I See Fire In the Sky
by snakeboy33
Summary: A thing I really wanted to do. Natsu is present when Fairy Tail disbands, and overwhelmed with hurt, and anger, he runs into the mountains. There, his despair consumes him, and something happens. What happens the next year, is something nobody in the now gone guild, could have ever dreamed in their wildest nightmares. Dark (but maybe not evil) Natsu.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

Natsu could not believe. He refused to believe it. But that didn't change the fact that it was true; Fairy Tail had been disbanded.

In Natsu's life, there had only ever been two places he could've gone for comfort: Igneel (who was now dead), and Fairy Tail (which was now gone). Of course, Natsu knew better than probably anyone that Fairy Tail was more than just a physical guild, it was a thing in one's heart. Normally, Natsu would've been able to live with that, but then he had watched, as everyone easily left….

_(Flashback)_

"_What's your plan, Lu?" Levy asked Lucy with a smile. She, Lucy, Erza, and Wendy were all heading back to their respective dwellings, to start the job search. Everyone was acting pretty positive about the whole thing._

"_I was thinking about going to Sorcerer's Weekly, maybe I can find work there," Lucy answered, "What about you?"_

"_Oh, I don't know," Levy answered, "Gajeel…" She abruptly silenced herself, turning red with embarrassment, after realizing what she just said. Lucy just giggled at that._

"_What about you, Erza?" she asked to the red head next to her._

"_I'm going to Mermaid Heel," Erza answered._

"_Really?" Lucy asked, cocking her head, "I thought you'd join Crime __Sorcière__. Especially with _him_ being there." Erza flushed red as well, before clearing her throat._

"_Mermaid Heel is a legal guild, with constant job requests," she explained, "I can get steady work there, and be with Millianna. It'll feel nice to stay with her again after so long. Kagura will also be there, and I can't let down my 'little sister'." She said that last part with a twinkle in her eye. All eyes then fell to Wendy, who looked away._

"_Well," she said, "I was actually going to talk to Lamia Scale, and see if they'd let me join."_

"_I'm sure they'll let you join," Lucy said, "You're pretty tough!"_

"_I don't know about that," Wendy said, wringing her hands, shyly._

"_Don't sell yourself short," Carla said from her position in Wendy's arms._

"_Do you know where anyone else is going?" Levy asked._

"_Not really," Lucy said, "But I'm sure we'll remain in touch."_

"_I wonder what Natsu will do," Wendy said. Everyone did have to admit they were slightly worried about Natsu. They all knew that he was one of the people who the guild was most important too._

"_Well, he'll be fine," Erza said, "It may take a while, but Natsu will learn to adapt. Fairy Tail's gone, we have to move on."_

"_Yeah, you're right," Lucy as the friends walked on, "But we'll always be together."_

_What they weren't aware of, was Natsu on the roof, as he listened. They were all leaving. Leaving Fairy Tail, leaving him. Natsu clenched his fists, as he jumped into the air, opened his fire wings, and flapped North, into the mountains._

_(End Flashback)_

And there Natsu was, sitting in a cave, his head hung, as the events sunk into him. He was angry, but not like he was angry in the past. This anger was primal, and fierce, almost like a fire. And for Natsu, that rage was justified.

At that moment, Natsu was still reeling from the death of his father, who he had to watch get horrendously ripped apart, and then blasted into oblivion by the Black Dragon, Acnologia. He had lost his father, and he could do nothing to help. However, at the time, he had Fairy Tail to go to for solace, a family he could seek comfort with. And just like that, it was ripped out from under him. The others just walked away, like Natsu was supposed to just move on. But he could not move on just like that. They had other places to go, things they knew to do. Natsu had none of that. All he had was his magic, and his comrades, and one of those was just lost.

"_**Igneel was wrong,"**_a familiar voice called, as the cave fell apart around Natsu.

**(in Natsu's inner world)**

"_Smaug," Natsu said, as he saw the massive, snake-like dragon loom over him. He was standing in the midst of massive volcanic region, which represented the deepest portions of his being. But the volcanoes were fiercer. They were exploding angrily, and the magma bubbled and burst._

"_**All due respect to Igneel's passing,"**__ Smaug said._

"_Don't bullshit me," was all Natsu said._

"_**Fine," **__Smaug growled__**, "But it doesn't matter. Igneel was wrong. He said those people would be your anchors. They would forever be with you, and keep you from the darkness. And now they abandon you so readily."**_

"_They had their reasons," Natsu said, as he tried to hold onto hope._

"_**Which gives them reason to abandon their home?"**__Smaug responded__**, "To abandon you, while you experience pain like you've never felt before?" **__Natsu grabbed onto his head. They had all left him alone, and they did it with so little question, so little doubt._

"_No, I can't accept that!" he said._

"_**I only desire what is the best for us,"**__ Smaug answered__**, "Acnologia killed our father. He must be punished."**_

"_I will punish him!" Natsu yelled, "I'll turn him to ash!"_

"_**Yes, you will!" **__Smaug said__**, "But how will you accomplish that as is? You're weak!"**_

"_I'm not weak!" Natsu yelled._

"_**Then tell me why you've never been able to do anything against Acnologia!"**__Smaug roared__**, "Tell me why Mard Geer was only barely defeated!" **__ Natsu let out a roar, as he tried to breath fire at Smaug, only for it to barely come out as a puff._

"_**You have rejected the fire for all this time,"**__ Smaug said__**, "As you have rejected your true nature. That is why you are weak. Those humans have done nothing but to hold you down. And for all that, they casted you aside like you were disposable, as was their home."**__ Natsu looked into the smoke, and saw images of the members of Fairy Tail, before each one faded away, one by one. He had rejected Smaug for a long time, so as to protect all of them from him. But now…_

"_I'm alone," Natsu said softly, as he fell to his knees, "Igneel is gone, Fairy Tail is gone. I've lost everything."_

"_**Yes, all else has left you, but you still have one thing,"**__ Smaug said, as he approached Natsu__**, "You still have your vengeance."**__ Natsu then saw an image of Acnologia, as he ripped Igneel clean in half, before blowing him to pieces. Natsu's rage built as he watched. The fire surrounding him flared up as well._

"_Acnologia," Natsu growled. Suddenly, at this moment, everything else vanished from his thoughts. Only one thing was present: destroy Acnologia._

"_He…. will…," Natsu said slowly, "burn."_

"_**As will all your enemies!" **__Smaug roared__**, "You need no one else! Your own power, is your greatest ally! Everyone else is a hinderance!" **__His chest then flared up._

"_**Now tell me, do you accept the fire?"**__ Natsu turned to face his dragon counterpart._

"_I accept the fire." He spoke those words with more conviction that almost anything else he said, with a few exceptions._

"_**So be it." **__With that, Smaug let out his fire. Natsu held up his arms, as he let the dragon's fire surround him._

**(in the real world)**

Natsu rose to his feet, as his fire cloaked his body.

"As of now, I serve myself, and myself alone!" he loudly proclaimed, "I don't need anyone, anymore! With my own two claws, I will rip Acnologia's throat open, and claim for me, the title of Dragon King! And all those who stand in the way of my vengeance will be turned to ash!" With that, the fire flared up, as it completely consumed Natsu. Within the fire, scales grew along Natsu's body, horns grew out of his head, and his fingers turned to claws. His clothes then fell from him in tatters.

"_**Now, what are you?"**_ Smaug's voice echoed.

"I AM… FIRE!" Natsu roared, "I AM… DEATH!"

The roar of a dragon echoed across the mountains.

**Note: I should explain myself. This was originally conceived as one of the two ways EOTFD could have gone, before I decided otherwise. But I really, really, REALLY wanted to do this idea, and wanted to do it. Obviously I couldn't go back and redo EOTFD, so I figured that this scenario takes place pretty much as canon progressed, only Natsu with Dragon's Eye. He is not in a relationship with Lucy in this version either. Also, Natsu didn't leave to go train, he stayed long enough to hear the word of Fairy Tail's disbandment, and he was understandably enraged. Enough so to allow "Smaug" to make a move. Also, I am aware how OOC this is for Natsu, but that's the point. I wanted to write an honest to goodness, "Dark Natsu" story, not like EOTBD, where Natsu is brought to the light slowly, but a story where Natsu is acting legitimately malicious (though maybe not necessarily evil at this point). Also, I acknowledge the fact that some of the other members may also be OOC in acting so cheerful, but I though it necessary for the benefit of the story (I also thought that Lucy may have been more positive, since Natsu was still with her), though there's another thing about that I won't yet reveal. Lastly, I also acknowledge Natsu's hypocrisy, with him getting angry about them leaving, while he himself just left on his own, and that Happy is still with him, but I will address that soon.**

**I hope you all liked this.**

**It would probably be best to explain Smaug (this shouldn't spoil EOTFD, but if you're still worried, don't read this part). You've been warned.**

**Smaug isn't a separate being existing inside Natsu, nor is he END. Smaug is a manifestation of Natsu's magic power, having always existed within him; in a sense, they are one and the same. The being Smaug, exists as a part of Natsu's subconscious, as a representation of what Natsu could be if he gave into his despair and rage, which he just did.**


	2. One Year Later

_**One Year Later**_

"Another day, another jewel," Lucy said, as she got out of bed, stretching as she did. After that, she headed into her bathroom, showered, made herself presentable, and struck out.

"I'm going to do my best!" she said excitedly. Since becoming a reporter, work for Lucy had been relatively steady. She was supposed to report on the Grand Magic Games this year, but she wasn't that into it. None of the big name guilds like Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus, or any of the other participants from last year, were in these games. Nonetheless, Lucy wouldn't be satisfied if she didn't still do her absolute best.

Eventually, she arrived at the stadium, where she met Jason, and started taking her notes. Even though the match was more than a little lackluster, and all around not that interesting, Lucy recorded every punch. After the games were done for the day, Lucy closed her notepad, and headed out.

"These games weren't anything like those last year," Jason said with a sigh. Apparently Lucy wasn't the only one to be left feeling underwhelmed.

"None of the big name guilds participated," Lucy said, "Quatro Cerberus, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, none of them."

"Neither Fairy Tail," Jason said, with a smile. Lucy blinked, before smiling sadly.

"Didn't you here?" she asked, "Fairy Tail's long gone."

"Really?" Jason asked with surprise, "Not cool!"

"Yeah, why do you think I needed the job?" Lucy asked, before quickly adding, "No offense."

"None taken," Jason answered with a shrug, "I don't think you'd ever leave Fairy tail for a job like this." Lucy smiled.

"Well, I'm heading back," she said, "See you tomorrow!" With that, she headed back home. _Fairy Tail or underwear model?_ she thought as she remembered her fist job_, Imagine which I one I would've preferred._

As she arrived back at her house, Lucy paused, and looked over it. She frowned. It was bigger, and nicer than her one in Magnolia, but it served as a reminder of that Fairy Tail was gone. Sighing, and putting it out of her head, she threw her bag down, and decided to work a little more on a novel. Ironically, after the disbandment, Lucy found a lot more time to work on it, but it wasn't as satisfying as she had hoped. She imagined finishing it, and showing off the published version to everyone in Fairy Tail.

Lucy caught herself getting slightly misty eyed, and she tried to find a way to take her mind off everything. She turned her attention a book she had bought, even though she heard it was phenomenally boring. Nonetheless, there had never been a book Lucy Heartfilia wasn't able to conquer, so she took a stab at it. And while it was very boring, it took the girl's mind off everything, if only briefly.

Later in the day, Lucy took a bath, as she lay back in the hot water, and thought. Memories came flooding back about the guild. She thought about everyone. Whenever the desire arose to meet with them, which Lucy and the means to do, she always though of an excuse not too. But each one of those excuses held no water, and Lucy knew it.

"I want to see everything!" she cried, pumping her fists.

"Keep it down!" her neighbor yelled.

"Sorry!"

After her bath, Lucy wrapped a towel around her, and walked into her bedroom. But instead of going onto her bed, or her closet, she went to her wall, where she looked over the massive spread she had of all the Fairy Tail members and their whereabouts. That was one of the reasons Lucy became a reporter, information always found its way to her, so she was able to keep up to date with who was where. There were, however, three (or more accurately six) exceptions. One was Gray, who Lucy had a bit of a lead on, but then it suddenly went cold (no pun intended); then there was Laxus, who Lucy knew would never join a different guild, seeing as Fairy Tail was in his blood, and at least three generation so his family were part of Fairy Tail. Of course, there was the Thunder Legion, but Lucy figured they were all with Laxus, so she didn't think much of them.

And then there was Natsu. After Fairy Tail was dissolved, Lucy went looking for him, with the hope of helping him find a job, figuring he was probably taken the disbandment the worse. But he had completely disappeared; and not long after that, Happy seemed to vanish as well. Lucy assumed he had went off training or something, but she couldn't find a single trace of him anywhere. It was like the Dragon Slayer had fallen clean off the face of the earth.

Lucy touched the picture of Natsu, his big, toothy grin on his face, as the girl took a breath, and pressed her forehead against it. She worried about Natsu, knowing what he was capable of when he was sad.

When Lucy eventually went to bed, she had a dream…

_(Dream)_

_Lucy was standing before the gates of the Fairy Tail building, standing prouder than ever. She walked in, and saw everyone in the guild hall, doing what they were likely born to do: party. Lucy teared up at the sight; everything was finally back to normal._

"_Lucy!" The girl whirled around, and saw Natsu and Happy standing behind her, both smiling big._

"_Natsu!" Lucy cried as she ran towards them, her arms open. Natsu held open his arms to Lucy as well, preparing to receive her._

_That was when suddenly, Natsu's eyes turned a blazing orange, like a wildfire. His smile turned into a malicious grin, as his body was suddenly consumed with fire. Lucy watched in horror as that fire consumed the entire guild hall, and everyone in it. She tried to cry out, but she found she couldn't make a sound. A shadow fell over her, and when Lucy slowly turned around, she saw a towering, serpentine form, with the same glowing eyes as Natsu._

"_**I stand alone!"**__ a voice roared, before the fire overwhelmed Lucy._

_(End Dream)_

Lucy woke up with a gasp, as she held her chest. She was sweating.

"What was that?" she asked herself. It didn't feel like a dream, it felt like it was real. Lucy could truly feel the heat of the fire, and the shadow of the monster. She checked the time, and noticed that it as time to get up anyway. With a sigh, Lucy got up, and headed to do her morning routine. After showing, she quickly did her hair and makeup.

"I'm going to do my best today!" she proclaimed, as part of her daily ritual. However, when Lucy went to open the door, she noticed a letter in her mailbox. She opened it, and took a look.

_Dear Lucy,_

_Recent information came in that one of the reasons all the big guilds weren't hear this year, was because they were all sharing a job request to guard some kind of large project in a mountain North of year. The Magic Council is there as well, to oversee what's going on. The office would like you to go and report on that, instead of the Games. The mountain is called "Ruby Peak", there's a map with this letter. You're to report on it, and send us an update by Lacrima every two days, until the project's finished. I'm sure this will be really cool._

_Signed, Jason_

Lucy fished in the envelope, and pulled out a map with directions, leading to the mountain. Well this was unexpected. She was just supposed to drop everything, and head to some random mountain? This seemed a tad strange. But she needed to keep her job, and if her superiors had instructed to do that, than she had to do it.

"Well, I guess I'm going North," she said to herself, as she went back into her house to start packing.

Once she was done, she quickly went to the train station, and jumped on the first train heading in the right direction. As Lucy sat in her seat, and stared out the window, thoughts milled around her mind; she was very nervous. Jason had mentioned that the major guilds were there, as was the Magic Council. As a result, a lot of the former members of Fairy Tail would be there as well.

"Well, I guess I had to do at some point," Lucy said, as she clenched her skirt.

**Note: Not much happened in this chapter, just to establish what's going on Lucy. Next chapter will take us to Ruby Mountain, where everyone seems to be. Chances are this'll prove interesting. Be sure to leave a review.**


	3. Ruby Mountain

_**Ruby Mountain**_

Lucy had been riding the train for a couple hours, as she crossed the country North. To be honest, it did feel good to get out of Crocus for once, since she hadn't really left the city since she moved. She was heading to Ruby Peak, which she admittedly knew nothing about, she hadn't even heard about it until she got the assignment.

Eventually, the train pulled into a station, after which Lucy transferred to carriage, since the village which lived in the shadow of the mountain, according to the map at least, wasn't accessible by train. Going on these vehicles made Lucy think of Natsu, and how miserable he would've been if he was taking this job.

That in turn, made Lucy think about what Natsu could have done after the disbandment. In all honesty, Natsu's set of skills wasn't very broad; all he really had going for him was his Dragon Slayer magic, and while it was otherwise unequal, that was all Natsu could really do. Lucy ran through her head potential jobs for Natsu: bouncer, bodyguard, soldier, mercenary… the list wasn't very long. That made Lucy worry, not for Natsu's physical well being (he had great survival skills), but for his emotional well being. She sighed, as she stared out the window.

"I hope you're safe," she said sadly.

**(sometime later)**

After about an hour of travel, Lucy saw the mountain, and she was underwhelmed. When she heard "Ruby Mountain", she imagined a massive, crimson red mountain that shined in the sunlight like a beacon. While the mountain was big, it wasn't anything grand. It was tall, and thin, with what looked like a pointed tip. And Lucy found it strange that it didn't seem to be connected to any large mountain range, it seemed to be out on its own; it gave a very lonely, isolated impression.

Lucy was dropped off in a village that was by an enormous lake. She paused for a time to take a look over it. The lake was so large, that Lucy could only barely see the other side. Littered about the lake, were what she assumed were fishing boats. Deciding it was best to make a quick report on the town, which she learned was named Egora, since it was in the shadow of the mountain Lucy was due to report on. After interviewing a couple of townsfolk, Lucy found she didn't learn much though. Just that this place was a fishing village that had been there for generations. However, one man had more to say.

"I hate the idea of people going into that mountain," he said, "That mountain is cursed." Lucy had met the man by the docks, while he was working on his fishing boat. He didn't seem pleased to be interrupted from his work, but he was polite enough.

"Why do you mean by that?" Lucy asked, as she scribbled her notes. The man, who looked to be in his sixties or so, was silent, as he cringed for a moment.

"There's some kind of air about that peak," he explained, "There's always this feeling of wrath, despair, and pain radiating off of it, like its hiding some kind of a great, monstrous force." Lucy made a face. This place was sounding better and better.

"Nobody should be messing around in there," the man continued, "Best to leave well enough alone."

"Thank you for your time," Lucy said, as she began to walk away.

"There's one more thing you should know," the man said.

"What's that?" Lucy asked, looking back.

"Over the course of one year, that mountain has had three names, it was originally called the Summit of Isolation, since the place is barren, and lonely," the man explained, "It was only renamed Ruby Mountain about a week ago."

"Then what was the third name?" The man's face turned dark, and his eyes darted around, as if someone was listening in on them.

"About a year ago, the mountain's plain, dull aura turned into the one I mentioned earlier, and people started staying clear of it. It was at that time, that it got its second name….."

**(at the mountain)**

Lucy was starting to really not like the mountain. While she'd been creeped out by the whole dark aura thing, she figured it, and the mountain's general reputation, was all nothing but superstition. But when she arrived at the base of the mountain, where the entrance into it was, Lucy found herself feeling something. There was indeed a dark aura amongst her, one that felt spiteful, and angry. Lucy couldn't help but shiver, but she knew she had a job to do, so she headed towards the gates, after showing her identification, and her permission to be there as a journalist..

Around her, there were construction crewmen, with massive scaffolds, tools, and carts, like there was some kind of mining operation going on. The entrance into the cave was of decent size, enough for a carriage or two to make its way into the cavern. Lucy even saw rails of some kind, making it seem even more like a mining operation. Her thoughts were confirmed when she got into the main chamber. She was so overwhelmed she nearly collapsed.

Inside was an enormous cavern, so big one could fit several sizable buildings into it. The ceiling was high above the ground, and the open area below was massive. At the edge of one of the walls, was an enormous black pit, that looked very deep.

Down on the floor, she saw workers going too and fro, pushing around carts, which Lucy noticed were filled to the brim with some kind of gemstone. Upon closer inspection, Lucy noticed they were all rubies, hundreds of them in small carts.

"There has to be a fortune down there," she said. Heck, it was probably even more than that. Lucy climbed down a ladder to the base, and she started walking around. That was when she saw them all.

The five major guilds were assembled around in a camp like area, as they hung out, not apparently doing much. In Quatro Cerberus, Lucy saw Cana drinking with Bacchus, while Elfman cheered Cana on. It wasn't that surprising that Cana joined Quatro Cerberus, but from what Lucy heard, she was the guild's first female member. Over with Blue Pegasus, Lucy saw Mirajane and Lisanna. With Lamia Scale, Wendy was talking with Chelia, and sitting next to her was a girl with white hair, and a white tail, something Lucy found slightly weird. And finally, there was Erza, sitting with the members of Mermaid Heel. There was, of course, Sabertooth, the only guild no former Fairy Tail member joined.

Lucy also noticed that the Magic Council was there as well. There she saw Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily. At this point, Lucy didn't see how Levy could deny anything about her and Gajeel, and yet she probably still did. The blonde took a deep breath, before stepping into the camp. The moment she entered, eyes went to her, as Lucy moved through. For a time, she was really nervous, but then…

"Lucy!" several voices said at once. Lucy was suddenly tackled in a hug by what turned out to be Mirajane.

"Mira?" Lucy in surprise.

"We missed you so much!" the takeover mage said, as she looked at Lucy with tears in her eyes.

"I thought we told you not to be a stranger!" Lisanna said, as she pushed her sister off, pulled Lucy up, and hugged her as well.

"Well, I've been busy," Lucy said, "Lately, Sorcerer Weekly's got me going all over the place." That was an excuse, but Lucy didn't have any good reason.

"Don't give us that!" Cana said as she walked up and put her hand on Lucy's head, "Don't tell me you forgot us!"

"Of course not!" Lucy said, shaking her head, "I'd never forget any of you!" Cana smiled at her, before taking her own turn to hug her.

"Its good to see you again," she said.

"A real man is one who stays in contact with his friends!" Elfman said loudly as he approached.

"Lu!" Levy said, as she ran over to her.

"Levy!" Lucy said, as the two embraced, "You really did end up joining the Magic Council! Going with Gajeel?" Levy flushed red as she pushed back.

"I needed work," Levy said quickly, "This paid well, and I enjoyed helping after the last council was destroyed."

"Keep telling yourself that," Lucy said.

"Yo, Bunny Girl!" Gajeel said not getting up from his seat, Then she saw Wendy walking up to her, her eyes on the ground.

"Hello, Lucy," she said nervously. Lucy smiled, before she hugged Wendy close.

"Don't act so shy," she said, "You know me." Wendy quickly hugged Lucy as well.

"I missed you," she said.

"You too," Lucy answered, before looking around, "Where's Carla?"

"Can't you see?" Carla's voice said. Lucy looked in the direction, and saw the white haired girl with a tail.

"Wha…," Lucy asked.

"I'll explain later," Carla said, smiling, "I had a feeling you'd be coming back soon."

"Lucy!" an all too familiar voice called out. Lucy let out a yelp, as an armored hand fell on her shoulder. The next thing she knew, her head was slammed into a steel breastplate.

"Hi, Erza," Lucy said in somewhat of a daze, but she couldn't help but smile. Doing all this, made her realize how long it had been.

**(later)**

Much of the remaining day was spent with the former Fairy Tail members catching up about what they'd been doing the past year. Lucy found out that until she showed up, none of them had really interacted with each other. Levy commented that Lucy was like the knot that tied them.

"So how have the other guilds been?" Lucy asked.

"Blue Pegasus is great," Mirajane said with a smile, "Everyone's really nice!"

"Though we did have to get used to the men constantly hitting on us," Lisanna said.

"Quatro Cerberus supplies me with booze," Cana said, "So I've got no complaints."

"Quatro Cerberus is manly!" Elfman said proudly.

"Don't you mean wild?" Lucy asked.

"Don't get the boys started, "Cana said.

"Aside from all the really embarrassing shows I had to do with Chelia," Wendy said, "Lamia Scales' been really fun!"

"Mermaid Heel has also been quite pleasant," Erza said, "Its good to be with Millianna again as well!"

Lucy listened as each member listed off their experience so far with different guilds and jobs, and finally the question fell to her.

"Well, its good to write," Lucy said, "Though I imagine you've all seen my magazine spreads."

"Yes," Erza said, as she reached into her armor, and pulled out a copy, with a half naked Lucy on it, "I've collected every copy!" Lucy flushed as red as Erza's hair.

"That's really embarrassing," she said.

"I know how it feels," Wendy said.

While the friends caught up, their current guild mates watched.

"Its good seeing all of them back together," Chelia said, "It feels like old times."

"It sure does, but I've got to wonder where Gray is," Lyon commented.

"Erzy looks really happy!" Millianna said, with a smile.

"She better not lose sight of what our task is," Kagura said, as she sat with her sword in her lap.

"This is Erza we're talking about," Risley said, "She never does that."

"Men! Seeing our lovely white haired ladies with all those other beauties forms an umatchable parfume!"

"Seeing Elfman and our girl gets my spirit rumbling!"

"Wild!"

"To think Fairy Tail would be back," Yukino piped up.

"Its too early to say they're back," Rogue said, "They're just all in the same place."

"Still, it would be great seeing Fairy Tail back together, it would mean we could go back to the games," Sting said. Minerva looked at Lucy, as she wrung her hands, and stared at the ground uncomfortably.

Back with the group, Lucy decided to ask about the others.

"What about Gray or Juvia?" she asked, "Or Laxus and the Thunder Legion?"

"Last I heard, Laxus and his posse were down in the South, doing god knows what," Cana answered, "Probably training or something."

"I don't know about Gray and Juvia?" Levy said, "I was curious so I looked them up in Council records, but couldn't find any information."

"Knowing Juvia she's probably with Gray," Carla said, "She'd probably go insane if she was away for him for five seconds." Lucy giggled at that, but then it came for the big question.

"What about Natsu?" All eyes were immediately on her.

"We thought he was with you," Erza said, sounding surprised.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, because…," Wendy trailed off.

"You know why," Cana said bluntly. Lucy decided to ignore that comment.

"No he's not," she said, frowning.

"Now that you mention it," Gajeel said, from his place in back, "I haven't got a bead on Salamander anywhere. I even used some connections in the Council to look around for him, but nothing. He's fallen clean off the grid."

"So has Happy," Carla mentioned. Lucy clenched her skirt.

"I'm really worried about Natsu," she said, "This isn't like him."

"You're right," Lisanna said, "He wouldn't isolate himself the way he seems to be doing now."

"And a job like this is something he would definitely be all over," Elfman said, "He's a real man!"

"Come to think of it," Lucy said, hoping to change the subject, "What is all this? I don't see why a mining operation would need all these powerful guilds, and the Magic Council."

"Well, its more than just a mining operation," Pantherily explained, "There's talk that these rubies aren't regular rubies. Its said that among them, are a select few with magical properties. Powerful ones at that."

"Yikes," Lucy said.

"And there's talk that some dark organization is plotting to get them," Levy said, "So the Magic Council assigned us, and the guilds to keep an eye on things."

"Must be really powerful it takes all of you," Lucy said, before slamming her fist into her palm, "That reminds me!" She pulled out her notepad.

"The whole reason I came here! I have to report on the operation going on here! Can I interview everyone?"

"Knock yourself out," Cana said with a smile, and everyone concurred, though Gajeel took some persuading by Levy. With that, Lucy began interviewing everyone, going around the guilds, the Council, and some of the workers. Eventually, her last interview, somehow, turned out to be Erza. When Lucy was done with her, she paused.

"What do you think happened to Natsu?" she asked slowly. Erza sighed sadly.

"I don't know," the knight answered, "I'm also worried about him. I think out of everyone, he took the disbandment the hardest. It was the only home he had ever known." Lucy clenched her notepad.

"Do you feel something about this mountain?" she asked. Erza looked around, and then at that pit, narrowing her eyes.

"I do. There's something dark about this mountain," she explained, "There's an feeling of rage, and grief. I don't know what, but its still there."

"That pit is really disturbing," Lucy said, taking an instinctive step back, "What's down there?"

"No one knows," Erza answered, "No one has been brave enough yet to go diving in there. The crew plans on mining all the rubies up here, before checking down there." Lucy looked nervously at the pit. She could see Wendy and Chelia standing near it, throwing rocks at it to pass the time.

"Erza?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know that this mountain used to be called something different?"

"And what would that be?"

"The Smoking Peak."

One the rocks Chellia threw, bounced down into the chasms deep beneath the mountain. Eventually, it fell into another, massive, open chamber. Within that chamber, was a sea of brilliant rubies, that filled the entire room. The stone clattered to the bottom, before it, itself, turned into a ruby. At that moment, the rubies shifted briefly, as if something massive was beneath them.

**Note: As some of you may have noticed, I was originally going to name the mountain "Ruby Peak" but then I decided to rename it "Ruby Mountain". That's because while I was given it its first and second names, I didn't want to repeat terms, and "Smoking Peak" sounded better than "Smoking Mountain" in my opinion.**

**Since we don't know where all the Fairy Tail members went, I had to guess where the ones we haven't seen yet might be. I don't know if Erza is in Mermaid Heel, but I'm guessing she is.**

**Now, I really wasn't that sure what to do with the reunion scene. A long drawn out reunion I figured would be boring, and I didn't think I had the proper talents to write out an extended scene about that. That said, there really wasn't that much else I could do aside from what I already did. Just spread a few hugs around, say some greetings, and then move on, that's about it. Then again, it wasn't the focus, so I suppose it can be let slide.**

**I don't know how good this is.**


	4. The Mountain's Sorrow

_**The Mountain's Sorrow**_

In an area east of the Ruby Peak, there was a sizable forest, that nobody ever went into. Not because it as scary or dark, but because there wasn't anything interesting about. It was just a regular forest.

At one place, deep within the forest, there was a large camp. It had dozens of smaller tents, all of them black, with a strange symbol on them. Int eh center, was a massive tent that looked more like a house. Within said tent, was a table, with a number of people assembled around it.

"The age of dark guilds has ended," the man at the head said. He was wearing priestly robes, with a strange metallic mask on his face.

"The time of Avatar is now," he said, "And with in this time, we will create the perfect world. The world of lord Zeref." Around the others, echoed words of "For Zeref". At one end of the table, sat a young man with black hair, and red eyes. Along his left arm, left of his torso, and left side of his face, were black markings.

"For Zeref," Gray said.

**(in the mountain)**

Lucy had been intending on renting a room at an inn in Egora, and spent her time not working there. However, her friends all insisted on Lucy staying with them. They pitched her a tent of her own (they all slept in their respective guild tents), and gave her a sleeping cot. When Lucy lay down on it, she was surprised to find it wasn't uncomfortable, and she tried to sleep.

But try as she might, she couldn't get any sleep. She couldn't escape from feeling of the mountain, as if it was burrowing into her skin. Lucy let out a sigh, as sh got out of bed, put her shoes on, and walked around the cavern. Most of the others were asleep as well, with some of the mining crew laying in sleeping bags on the ground.

As she wandered, Lucy looked over at the massive black pit. There she saw Wendy sitting by the edge, with Carla (back in cat form), sleeping in her lap. Lucy walked over to her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked. Wendy briefly flinched at the surprise of Lucy's voice.

"Lucy!" she said. The blonde giggled.

"Sorry to scare you," she said, before sitting beside Wendy, "I asked if you couldn't sleep?" The Sky Dragon Slayer shook her head.

"No," she answered, "Its just…" She trailed off, and Lucy put her hand on her shoulder.

"You can tell me anything." Wendy clenched her fists.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the others at Lamia Scale," she said, "But I miss Fairy Tail." Lucy smiled sadly, as she folded her hands in her lap.

"I know, I miss it to," she said.

"Lamia Scale is really good, and all eh people there are really nice to me," Wendy said quickly, before looking down, "But…"

"You miss Natsu, don't you?" Lucy said. Wendy nodded slightly, as tears built in the corner of her eyes.

"I had been planning to go to Lamia Scale, but I wanted to ask Natsu to come with me," she said, "I knew he wouldn't want to, but I was really hoping he would." Lucy listened sadly. She knew that Natsu and Wendy's relationship was essentially big brother-little sister in all but name, and Wendy really looked up to Natsu. No doubt his disappearance was really hard on the poor girl.

"Sometimes I wonder if should have just stayed with Natsu," Wendy said, "Maybe he wouldn't have disappeared."

"Natsu's an idiot, "Lucy said, "You can't blame yourself for him acting as such." However, Wendy still didn't feel better. Lucy didn't find herself feeling that good either, as she sighed, and looked down at the pit. It the darkness, it seemed even more ominous, which lead Lucy to wonder something.

"Why are you sitting here?" she asked, "This pit is really creepy."

"I know," Wendy said with a nod, "But there's something about this feeling. It may be angry, and even kind of vindictive, but there's something else in it." Wendy reached into her pocket, and pulled out a ruby. Lucy noticed that despite it being presumably mind, it seemed to already be cut, something that was strange.

"And what would that be?"

"This feeling, its sad," Wendy said, as she looked over the ruby, "Whatever is giving off this feeling, feels very hurt, and wronged." Lucy paused, as she looked down into the pit. Now that Wendy mentioned, there was a sense of sorrow that came from the feeling.

"What could it be?" she asked.

"I don't know," Wendy answered. The two sat in silence for a while longer, just staring into the black pit, before Lucy took a breath, and pulled Wendy to her feet.

"Let's try and get some sleep," she said, "There's nothing we can do about it for now."

"Alright," Wendy said, as she followed Lucy back into the camp, after dropping the ruby down into the pit. It made a resonating echo that seemed to go across the entire cavern.

**(the next day)**

After waking up, Lucy realized she at another reason she wanted to stay at the inn, was the inn had showers and baths. So she was understandably dismayed the next morning, until Mirajane pointed her to portable showers that everyone used. Lucy was very relieved at that. After getting cleaned and dressed, Lucy decided to continue her work. She interviewed some of the miners this time, and found out that a business man was running the whole operations. When she asked about him, however, she was shot down, so she dropped it.

To her surprise, Lucy found out that Jura was present. According to Levy, he was present as the member of the Magic Council to oversee this. With that, Lucy headed put o where he was, at the highest cliff, overseeing.

"Ms. Lucy!" Jura greeted respective, smiling at her approach, "It has been a while, how have you been?"

"I've been well," Lucy answered, smiling back.

"You should know that if I had been a Council member last year, I would never have approved Fairy Tail's disbandment," Jura said firmly, "They've done nothing but good for the magic world."

"Thank you," Lucy said smiling back, "I was wondering if I could interview you for Sorcerer Weekly?"

"I'd be genuinely honored." With that, Lucy began the interview with him.

"Why would you say this project is going on?" she asked.

"Initially, it was just a project by Da Murinator, that started about a week or so ago" Jura answered, and noticing Lucy's face, "Yes, quite a strange name. But word spread that one of the rubies had been giving off strange light. I took it upon myself to investigate, the council chambers can get so dull, and found that said ruby held a strange form of magic. Further study lead me to realize that other rubies that had been discovered shared this magic. I could not identify what the magic was, only that it was old, and powerful, and that they were being found continuously. I realized the potential danger, so I decided to spare no expense, in ensuring that these rubies were properly protected." Lucy was impressed by all this, though she thought there may have been another reason.

"And I also wished to see all the former members of Fairy tail back together," Jura said, with a twinkle in his eye, "You should know I actually requested you to be the reporter." Lucy flushed red, before clearing her throat slightly.

"So what's happening to the magic rubies?" Lucy asked. Jura pointed with his staff, over to a decent sized people not far from where was standing.

"They are collected there, to be shipped to the Council headquarters for study," he explained.

"Now this next question is one I'm wondering about," Lucy said, "Where did these rubies come from? I heard in Egora that it wasn't always called 'Ruby Mountain'."

"That is quite the question," Jura said, frowning, "Apparently one day they just popped into existence."

"Do you think it has something to do with the magic rubies?"

"Without a doubt. Its just the connection we all need to find. I'm confident we'll find our answer in the pit." Lucy closed the notepad.

"Well, that's everything," she said, "Thank you for everything!"

"I should be thanking you," Jura said, smiling warmly, "Its good to see all of Fairy Tail together again."

"Well, we're not really together, we're just in the same place," Lucy said, looking down. Jura frowned at that, but he figured this was a personal topic of her, so he decided against pursing it. Lucy then took her leave, and walked back down the level. There, she sat on the rocks, and watched everyone go about their activities.

**(that evening)**

The day proved really boring. Lucy and hoped maybe someone would dive into the pit, and see what the heck was down there. It was driving Lucy crazy, and if she weren't so afraid, she's dive in as well.

After reviewing her notes, writing a detailed review, and contacting her boss via lacrima, Lucy was ready for bed. However, unable to sleep again, she instead found herself staring at the tent ceiling. Since Wendy mentioned the sad feeling, that was all Lucy could feel; the anger and despair had been replaced by that feeling of hurt and sorrow. It was to safe to think that this thing that was giving off this feeling had been hurt, badly from the feel of it. She looked at ruby she'd been given by one of the workers who was probably trying to flirt with her.

True, the ruby looked quite beautiful, being a blood red that seemed to go deep into the gem, but there was something about the ruby itself. The same feeling seemed to be irradiating off of it. _Maybe the rubies are the source?_ Lucy thought.

"Well, one way or another, I ain't keeping this," she said, as she tossed the ruby away. However, the moment the ruby hit the ground there was a huge explosion sound, that knocked Lucy off her bed.

"The hell!" Lucy said, as she quickly ran out of her tent. She saw that others running towards the sound.

"What's going?" she asked Erza as the mage ran by with her guild.

"We don't know!" Erza answered, "But we're going to find out! Come on!" Lucy ran with Mermaid Heel towards the sound.

"Who would come here? Bandits?" Beth asked.

"Don't forget that some of these rubies are magic," Araña said, "It could be a dark guild desiring them."

"Whoever they are, we'll stop them!" Kagura said, putting her hand on her sword.

"That's my little sister!" Erza said, flashing a smile.

"Please not now!" Kagura said, flushing red.

As the woman neared the sight, and that's when they saw the battle. A massive amount of soldiers, dressed in black robes, with a symbol of their cloaks, had charged into the cavern.

"Who are they?" Millianna asked.

"Enemies, that's who!" Erza said, "Mermaid Heel, to battle!" With that, she lead the charge of mermaids into combat.

Lucy briefly needed a moment to take in everything that was happening. The Rune Knights were engaging much of the dark mages. Lucy looked around, and saw all the mages doing their thing.

Gajeel was at the brunt of the fight for the Magic Council, leading the Rune Knights in combat. Levy was in the back, giving orders, and occasionally using her Letter Magic to knock away some overzealous dark mages. Pantherlily was with Levy, protecting her.

Quatro Cerberus was doing their thing, like berserkers almost. Lucy noticed Bacchus and Cana working in conjunction, with Cana activating her cards, and putting them on Bacchus' palms. She actually remembered that Cana and Bacchus formed a team called the "Drunken Duo". Elfman was also doing a lot of fighting in his beast soul form.

Mirajane and Lisanna had been empowered by Ichiya's perfume (or was it "parfume", Lucy could never tell it was something completely different), and were fighting hard in their own right.

Sabertooth was doing its thing as it always did, though Lucy did have to admit it was weird seeing Minerva fight on their side, but she wasn't complaining. If there was one person good to have on your side, Minerva was one of them.

In Lamia Scale, Lucy said that apparently Carla was using her transformation magic as a means of being able to fight in her own right. Chelia and Wendy were working together in their "Sky Sisters" team.

Probably out of all of them, Mermaid Heel was probably working together the best. All of the woman seemed to be completely in synch, with Risley or Beth stunning the opponent, giving time for Millianna or Araña time to entrap them, and Erza or Kagura would finish the job.

It made Lucy sad.

Outside of their current guilds, none of the former Fairy Tail members were working together. They were completely focused on their own guilds. Lucy figured she couldn't fault them for that, but still. As an enemy charged Lucy, the blonde decided to enter the fray as well.

"Lucy!" Erza called, as she went to go assist her friend. However, Lucy pulled out her keys, and summoned Loke, who quickly incapacitated the man.

"Star Dress: Leo Form!" Lucy said, slamming her key into her chest, as she entered her Star Dress form. That surprised Erza.

"Is that re-quip magic?"

"Not exactly," Lucy said with a thumbs up, before kicking up, "Regulus Lucy Kick!" This sent another charging guy flying, which surprised Erza again. _I guess I've been underestimating her all this time,_ she thought with a smile_, I suppose I never do learn._

Up on a cliff, a woman with slicked hair and dark skin, entered with a man with thick shaggy hair, and pale skin.

"Quite the chaos down there," the woman said, "Shall we join them, Jerome?"

"No need," the man, Jerome, answered, "Don't forget, Briar, this is just a way of gauging the strength."

The battle continued, as the roar rattled around the cave walls, creating a tremendous amount of noise.

"Stop!"

For some reason, everyone heard that, as the fighting abruptly stopped. For the former Fairy Tail members, that voice was very familiar.

"Is that…," Lisanna began. She looked towards the pit, and saw a blue cat flying at them.

"Happy!" Lucy, Carla, and Wendy yelled together.

"You've got to stop fighting!" Happy cried as he flew through the ranks, "You'll wake him up!"

"Why did you stop! Attack!" Jerome ordered. The followers quickly resumed their attack.

"Happy!" Lucy called.

"Lucy?" Happy said, as he looked, and indeed saw the blonde, "Lucy!" He flew to Lucy, who caught him, and held him her arms.

"Kitty!" Millianna said, as she tried to grab Happy, only for her to be held back by Risley.

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked, "Where's Natsu!"

"Please! Stop!" Happy begged, "He just wants to be left alone!"

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, "Who are going to wake up?" But Happy wasn't listening.

"If you wake him up, he won't care who's here, he'll kill everyone!"

**(in the pit)**

The sound of the conflict resonated through the lower chamber, the echoing making it incredibly distinct. The rubies that covered the floor lay still for a time, before all of a sudden…

There was a huge snort as the rubies exploded outward, revealing a massive nostril, with steam leaking out of it. The rubies then shifted, as there were the makings of a reptilian head, with red scales, with a massive closed eye.

At that moment, the lid opened, revealing an enormous slitted eye. A deep, rumbling growl sounded out.

**Note: He's woken up.**

**I decided to us Avatar for a couple reasons. One, it helps bring Gray (and by extension, Juvia) into the story quickly, and secondly, it was an organization with the motivation and means to cause a large incident in the mountain. Enough to disturb his** **sleep. If you're wondering where Jura was during the battle, then don't worry, it will be explained.**

**Quick note, "Da Murninator", was a really lame joke I cooked up. Try saying it aloud fast and you'll probably get it. And don't worry, I'm working on EOTFD and EOTBD as well.**


	5. The King of the Mountain

_**The King Of the Mountain**_

"Will that cat shut up!" Kagura said as she cut down another enemy, "I can't concentrate with his whining!"

"What's going on, Happy?" Erza asked, "Who'll kill everyone?"

A deep growl suddenly reverberated across the caverns. Everyone stopped fighting, as the growl seemed to make the ground shake.

"What's that?" Briar said, as she looked around. A look of pure dread fell over Happy's face.

"Its too late, he's awake," he said.

"Enough with the pronouns!" Lucy yelled, "Who's awake?" However, before Happy could answer, there was a slight boom, followed closely by another, and then another. It was if something massive was approaching. The pit then began to glow slightly.

"There's something in the pit!" Sting said. Everyone stared at the pit, and indeed, the sounds were coming from the pit, as the glow slowly got brighter. A shadow appeared within the glow, followed closely an enormous, three fingered claw.

"By Zeref," Jerome said in shock.

"What is that thing?" Jenny called out.

"Its so big," Chelia said.

It was that something else emerged. A massive head, attached to a long neck. A second clawed hand emerged, and grabbed another rock further up. As it rose, its back was turned to them, but then its head turned, and everyone looked at the creature's face. It had slitted, orange eyes, that blazed like wildfire. Around its head were flaring horns, that seemed to rise and fall. It had razor sharp teeth in a mouth that seemed permanently sealed into a wicked scowl. It scales were red, and spines and armor ran along its back.

"That's not possible," Rogue said.

"It… it can't be," Gajeel whispered.

"That's a…," Lisanna said, covering her mouth. Everyone there knew what it was, but nobody believed it.

"A dragon," Wendy murmured.

Sure enough, it was a massive dragon, something that no one expected, or thought possible. Dragons were thought to be gone, wiped from the face of the earth, save for Acnologia. And yet one stood right before them.

For what was probably only a few seconds, but seemed like an eternity, the dragon looked at the people assembled there, as if sizing them up. Its eyes scanned the crowd, with the dust in the air forming beams coming from the eyes. Then it opened its mouth.

"**TRESPASSERS!"**__it roared**, "THIEVES!"** It then leapt backward, and landed on the ground before the people, fully emerging from the pit, revealing a long tail, at least twice the length of its body. The dragon leaned back, as its mouth began to glow as well as its chest.

"Look out!" Gajeel yelled. With a roar, the dragon's mouth exploded with fire. The people scattered to avoid the flames, as much of the scaffolding and mining equipment was lit on fire.

"Its a fire dragon!" Rogue said.

"Just like Natsu!" Wendy said. The dragon stomped forward, crushing those unfortunate enough to be in its path underfoot. It let out another blast of fire, which consumed a multitude of people. Its tail lashed out, sending people careening away. The dragon then held up its head, let out a roar.

"**I am King of this Mountain!"** it loudly proclaimed**, "It, and all that is within it, belong to me! And no one steals my property!" **It breathed raked its claws across the wall, tearing up the scaffolding, before sweeping its claws across the ground, sending the carts with rubies flying away. Several of the Rune Knights and dark mages tried to fire attacks at the dragon, only for them to harmlessly bounce off the dragon's scales. Wendy, decided to take it upon herself to communicate with the dragon.

"Wendy!" Chelia cried.

"Wait!" she cried as she ran forward. The dragon stopped, as it looked down at Wendy, who fell to her knees in submission.

"Please forgive us!" Wendy cried, "We did not know this was your home! We'd never steal from you!"

"Wendy's right!" Chelia said, as she came up to her friend's side, "We aren't thieves!"

"We beg for your pardon!" Erza said, as she also bowed, though only one knee, "Please, great serpent of fire, let us leave! We will take nothing with us!" Voice of agreement echoed across the guilds as others also bowed in submission to the beast. For a time, the dragon stared at the people.

"Its calming down," Lucy said softly.

"No," Happy said slowly, "He's getting angrier." Lucy looked to question that, but then she saw something in the dragon's eyes. Its eyes glowed brighter, as it stared down at the guilds, and it began to tremble again.

"**You…," **it growled, before letting out an angry roar, and charging**, "You will burn!" **It then held up its head, and breathed fire into the ceiling, sending the flames cascading down across the entire cavern.

"Get down!" Erza cried, as she and everyone else scattered, diving behind rocks. The fire rained down on them, and while they managed to avoid the worst of it, they got some burns.

Meanwhile, up on the cliff, Jerome and Briar had managed to escape.

"I think you can agree that we can't stay here, Shaggy," Briar said.

"We'll report back to the others about this creature's presence," Jerome said, not wasting his time on Briar's nickname, "This certainly complicates things." With that, the dark mages fled out of the cave.

During all this, the dragon didn't slow its attack. If anything, it hastened it. Since seeing all the guilds, it had become even fiercer, and as if it had a personal vendetta against all of them. It also stopped just breathing fire, and began to claw, and snap at the mages, as they ran to avoid the attacks, while trying to fight back.

"Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel said, as he struck at the dragon, but his attack bounced off like all the others. The others tried their own attacks. Wendy and Chelia combined their Dragon and God slayer magics to a form a massive roar that seemed to stun the beast, but not much more than that. The others all tried their own attacks, but nothing was happening.

"Damn it!" Bacchus yelled, "Why haven't we learned from last time we fought dragons?"

"That was seven dragons, and then we had seven dragon slayers on our side, now we only have two!" Cana sneered.

"Where's Natsu when you need him?" Levy said, as Pantherlily carried over, and she wrote a "Solid Script: Water" dousing the dragon's glowing chest, and stopping him from breathing fire. That was a good question. Of all the dragon slayers who would have been effective against this dragon, Natsu would have been the most. This was a fire dragon, and Natsu was a Fire Dragon Slayer. He may have been able to take down the monster.

"Where's Jura?" Hibiki asked.

"He had to go to the nearest city and talk to the mining companies owner!" Gajeel answered, "I swear, when I see that owner, I'm going to stick him right through…"

"Gajeel!" Levy scolded, "Keep your head in the battle!" Gajeel snorted, before striking at the dragon again. The dragon snapped at him, but he managed to get out of the way.

"Over here you overgrown garden snake!" Sting yelled. The dragon turned, only to get a face full of Sting and Rogue's Unison Raid.

Lucy had fallen to the ground, and looked on in horror as the tremendous serpent, as it rampaged through the cave.

"Why?" Happy said slowly, as he stood, staring at the dragon, tears in his eyes, "Why couldn't you have just left him alone?" The way he talked, it sounded like he knew the dragon.

"Who is that?" Lucy demanded, as she looked at Happy. But the cat just continued to sniffle.

"He was already so angry, and sad," he said softly, "And then you had to come." Lucy was getting fed up with Happy's constant pronoun game, but she knew she couldn't get mad him now. Especially when there was a giant fire breathing dragon running amok right next to her. Lucy then pulled out her keys, getting ready to fight in her own right **(note, she's still in her Star Dress)**. But as she charged into battle, she noticed something.

On the the dragon's right shoulder, was a patch of scales redder than the others, that didn't seem to form a distinct shape, but looked strangely familiar. Also, on the side of the dragon's neck, was a scar; it was small, but it was still there, and was eerily similar to another one Lucy had seen. But then Lucy saw something tied onto one of the dragon's horn, and her eyes widened.

"No!" she whispered, "It… it can't be…" The dragons said that while they prevented anyone from turning into a dragon, so this couldn't be possible. But Lucy knew what she saw with that dragon. All those combined features were one thing, but this one last one settled it: the scarf on the dragon's horn. Lucy fell to her knees, as tears welled in her eyes.

"Its… its…," she stuttered.

"Aye," Happy said, as he came up next to her, also crying, "Its him." The battle raged on, as the dragon twisted and writhed, breathing fire, while the mages battled against it. Lucy didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that he could have fallen to such a level, that his despair would overwhelm him, that he would hurt them. But the evidence was staring her in the face. With that she inhaled, and yelled louder than ever before.

"NATSU!" Her cry echoed across the cave, letting everyone in their hear it. The dragon abruptly stopped, as it turned, and looked directly at Lucy. Its flaring eyes seemed to burn Lucy's skin, as she shook.

"Natsu?" Elfman said, "Is he here?"

"I don't see him anywhere," Lisanna said. The dragon hissed, as its tongue snaked out of its mouth and licked the air briefly, before it began to crawl towards Lucy.

"**Lucy,"** it growled. That was when everyone in the cavern came to the same realization Lucy did.

"Wait a minute!" Cana yelled, "You mean to tell us that giant snake is Natsu?!"

"He… turned into a dragon," Wendy whispered, covering her mouth in terror.

"How is this possible?" Rogue said, "I remember the dragons telling us that because of their presence inside of us, we wouldn't become dragons."

"Something must've happened to Natsu," Sting said, "Something that overpowered Igneel's presence."

Erza stared in horror; there was one of her oldest friends, now a monster, fighting against them. Nobody in Fairy Tail could believe it. There was Natsu, the smiling, cheerful, if not occasionally idiotic teen they all knew and love, as an colossal, fire breathing wyrm. Wendy was on her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"Please, let this not be real, let this just be a dream," she whispered.

The dragon, no, Natsu, loomed over Lucy, as he bent down, putting his snout in her face.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered, tears streaming down her face, "Tell me this isn't true. Tell me you didn't become this, and this is just some illusion or new magic you've discovered." Natsu sniffed Lucy slightly, before showing his teeth.

"**I am as real as the heat on your skin,"** he spoke**, "Why are you here? Why now have you come for me?"**

"Come for you?" Lucy echoed, "What do you mean? We didn't know you were here!" Natsu growled, as his eyes narrowed. _Of course,_ he thought_, Nothing's changed._ His response to Lucy's question was to open his mouth. His chest began to glow lightly, and he arched back.

"Lucy!" Erza, Cana, Mirajane, and Wendy all cried out.

"**GET OUT!"** Natsu roared to everyone there**, "Never return again!"** With that, he crawled back over to the pit, and started to slither in. Everyone watched in shock and awe. Natsu briefly looked over this shoulder.

"**I said get out!" **he bellowed. With that, people, not wanting anger the giant fire breather, no matter who he was, began to file out. During this time, Lucy watched as Natsu slithered back into his pit.

"Natsu!" Happy called, "Wait for me!"

"Happy! No!" Lucy said as she tried to grab the exceed, but he slipped away, and flew down the pit with Natsu.

"Oh Natsu, what's happened to you?" Lucy whispered, as her tears fell.

**(in the pit)**

"Natsu!" Happy said, as he flew up to where Natsu's eye was as the dragon climbed down, "Aren't you going to talk to them?"

"**Why should I?"** Natsu answered**, "They are no longer my comrades, nor am I their's." **He landed at the bottom of the pit, and slithered through the rubies like a snake through water, his claws grabbing at large rock columns to push himself forward.

"But…," Happy began.

"**I said no!"** Natsu hissed at Happy. Happy recoiled back, before nodding slowly. Natsu then nestled back down, and closed his eyes, apparently going back to sleep. However, once he did, Happy flapped his wings, and flew back up through the pit.

_Why did they have to be here?_ Natsu thought_, Why can't they just leave me alone like they did then?_ He shifted, trying turning his head away from the pit.

**Note: First of all, yes, that's essentially Smaug from **_**The Hobbit**_** movies. Though not the Benedict Cumberbatch voice I'm afraid (damn). Its Natsu's voices, but deeper, and with an underlying growl; just different enough to not notice its him at first.**

**So yeah, I'd be surprised if anyone didn't see this coming. I hope I did it well, and sorry this chapter was shorter, but I didn't want too much to happen in this. So yeah, we got to wonder why Happy's still with Natsu, and what will happen now that everybody knows what happened to Natsu.**


	6. What More is Left?

**_What More is Left?_**

"Men! That was quite a surprise!"

"How could that have been Natsu?" Elfman said, "That was a dragon!"

"Overuse of Dragon Slayer Magic is said to turn the mage into a dragon if used too much," Sting said.

"But I remember the all the dragons saying last year that they took measure to prevent that," Gajeel said, "Salamander shouldn't have turned into a dragon."

"Well, unless you've got a better explanation, that's the one we have to go on!" Kagura said.

The guild members, council members, and reporter had returned to Egora, where news spread rather quickly that a giant dragon had taken up residence in the mountain. Some of the residents were beginning to pack, but most of them didn't for reasons no one fully understood.

Right now, everyone was assembled in the town hall, discussing what had just happened, how the man who was once the one who made everyone smile, and become what could only be described as, a monster. Nobody probably wanted to really believe that thing was Natsu Dragneel, but all the evidence pointed to him. Even Happy had called the dragon "Natsu".

"Are you going to report this?" Pantherlily asked Gajeel.

"I'll let the shrimp handle that," the Iron Dragon Slayer answered as he absently nibbled on a fork.

Levy was working on her report to the Council, hoping it would take her mind off it. _We were proceeding with the mining operations, when there was a an attack by what we believe to be the organization, Avatar._ she wrote_ We were in the process of repelling them, when we discovered that the mountain was the residence of a fire dragon. The dragon promptly drove us out of the mountain, and all mining operations have ceased. We have also come to a realization that the dragon, is in fact a transformed Natsu Drag…. _Levy abruptly stopped writing, as her pen instead suddenly dragged across the paper, ruining it. She sniffled, as she wiped her tears, crumpled up the paper, and threw it away. Pantherlily noticed this, and he sighed. She had been doing this multiple times, and Gajeel knew it, making it clear neither him nor Levy wanted to report this.

All of the other former Fairy Tail members were quiet distraught. Mirajane and Lisanna were both clinging to each other, tears dripping from their eyes, as their brother stood over them.

"Poor girls," Eve said, "I can only imagine how they're feeling."

"Should we really be letting that _man_ be with our lovely ladies?" Ichiya swooned.

"That's their brother, Sir," Ren said.

"I remember when that guy from Galuna Island," Sherry said, as she scooted closer to her husband, "I could never have imagined him becoming this."

Cana would be hitting the booze, but she didn't have the conviction to do it, and only stared at the mug.

"Come on, Sis!" Bacchus said as he came up next to her, "Drink it up!" His hope was to cheer his guild mate up, though some may have called it misplaced at the time.

"Not in the mood," Cana said.

"Not in the mood for booze?" Bacchus said, "What's going on with you?" But Cana didn't pay attention, and Bacchus decided to let her be.

Erza was pacing very rapidly in front of a window, pausing every so often to glance out the window at the mountain.

"Erzy!" Millianna said, "You're going to wear a hole in the floor!"

"This is the only place where I can pace, and still be able to see the mountain!" Erza said, as she glanced at the mountain again, "I have to be here in case Natsu decides to come here, so that I can speak with him."

"Poor girl's in denial," Risely said.

"Yeah," Beth agreed, "That giant snake isn't her friend."

"Don't be so hard on her," Millianna protested, "What if I suddenly turned into a giant cat monster?"

"You're already a cat monster," Araña said with a grin Millianna pouted at her.

"Now's not the time to joke," Kagura said, silencing the women. She was concerned about Erza; she knew how much that woman cared about Dragneel, and no doubt this was hard on her.

However, it was probably Wendy who was taking it the worst. She was crying, as both Carla and Chelia held her.

"Poor Wendy," Toby said as he sobbed, "It makes me want to cry!"

"You're already crying," Yuka said, but nobody was joking. Everyone in Lamia Scale knew how close Wendy was too Natsu, who had filled a role as her older sibling.

"Its okay, Wendy," Chelia said, "We'll figure out what's wrong." Wendy couldn't speak through her tears. Natsu, her friend, her mentor, her brother, was a beast. Carla's mind was also on Natsu, but it was actually also on Happy. Why would Happy stay with Natsu, if Natsu had fallen to such a low point? Carla always thought of Happy as being simplistic, but good hearted, the latter being more important, but why would he do this?

And then there was Lucy. The blonde was standing in front of the inn, just staring at the mountain. A million things were going through her head. What happened to Natsu? Why was he in the mountain? Why was Happy with him? Why was he so angry at all them?

"Natsu," Lucy whispered, as she wiped a stray tear. It was obvious that the aura of sadness and anger came from Natsu. But what she didn't know was why Natsu had those feelings. Could he really have taken the disbandment that bad?

A multitude of emotions were swirling through her mind. Anger for Natsu's actions, sorrow for what had happened to him, and even traces of happiness and relief, in the knowledge that he was alright, if not himself. Lucy didn't know what to do, but there had to be something there for her to do. With a breath, Lucy turned to go back into the inn. Everyone needed to discuss what was going on.

Once Lucy was in, it was seemingly the thing that announced that it was time to start talking about what to do.

"Well, this answers the question of where all of those rubies came from," Gajeel said.

"What do you mean?" Yukino asked.

"When a dragon takes up residence in a cave or someplace like that," Rogue explained, "Its magic presence is able to turn normal rocks into precious stones, and normal metals into gold and silver."

"I guess a fire dragon creating rubies would make sense," Lector said.

"Fro, thinks so too!"

"That's probably where the magic in the rubies is coming from," Minerva said, "I guess the dragon's magic leaked into it."

"That's probably what the dark mages wanted," Lyon said, "The power of the dragon could do potentially do anything."

"We should probably get all the rubies we've taken out of the cave back, and study them more," Levy said, "I'll contact…"

"Stop!" Lucy abruptly said. Everyone looked at her, as she glared at them all.

"Don't act like its the damn rubies are what are really important," Lucy said, "Everyone here knows what the problem is. Natsu Dragneel, once one of the kindest, bravest, most good hearted person I've ever met, is now a dragon!" A silence fell upon the assembled people. Lucy was right, nobody wanted to really talk about it.

"What's there to talk about?" Cana said, "That's what he's become. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"How do you know that!" Wendy called, as she stood up, "There's always something that can be done!"

"Wendy," Chelia said softly.

"Look kid," Gajeel said with a sigh, "Its unlikely there's anything left of Salamander in that creature. Chances are he's completely gone."

"Don't be so sure," Erza said, "Don't forget, he couldn't kill Lucy."

"And how do we know that wasn't just a fluke?" Bacchus inquired.

"How well do you know Natsu?" Cana countered, "In the list of people he'd never hurt, Lucy's pretty high on the list, if not the number one." Lucy would've blushed at that, but she was not in the mood.

"That doesn't matter," Gajeel said firmly, "The fact of the matter, is that an enormous dragon has been discovered, and from the looks of things, he's more than hostile."

"The kitty said he just wants to be left alone," Millianna said, "So if we leave him alone, then he'll leave everyone alone as well, right?"

"And what happens when Natsu decides he's hungry, or when what littles remains of him, if there's any, slips away? Or if he decides the mountain isn't enough?" Rogue responded, "This village is in his shadow, and there's absolutely nothing stopping him from coming down here, and burning it to the ground."

"YOU'RE ALL WRONG!"

"Kitty!" Millianna said happily. It was Happy's voice, but when people turned to the door, the blue cat wasn't standing there. Instead, there was a boy with blue hair, a blue sweatshirt, blue pants, and a green backpack. He looked to be about Wendy's age or so. Obviously the voice came from him, but that was impossible unless…

"Happy?" Carla called out in surprise. The boy just nodded slightly, much to everyone's shock. Happy was never considered to be among those who would be able to master transformation like this, but it seemed just as good as Carla's, if not somewhat better, seeing as he didn't have a tail, though a couple cat ears stuck up under his hair.

"Thats Happy?" Lisanna asked. Never had she expected the cat who was practically her adopted son would be like this.

"No kitties?" Millianna lamented with a pout.

"Natsu isn't a bad guy!" Happy said firmly, "He hasn't done anything wrong!" Erza stepped forward, and hugged Happy gently.

"Its good to see you again," she said kindly. Happy hugged back, and Erza guided him over to a chair.

"Why don't you tell us what you know about Natsu?" she asked. Happy slowly nodded, and opened his mouth.

**(sometime later)**

According to Happy, Natsu had turned into a dragon almost the same day Fairy Tail had disbanded. He had fled into the mountains, where he transformed, though Happy didn't know how or why it happened. Happy had managed to get on Natsu's good side, and he traveled with him. Natsu had flown North from Magnolia, doing some things along the way. Happy didn't say what those things were, but he repeatedly said they weren't bad things, and Natsu had good reasons. Eventually, after about a month or so of travel, Natsu eventually settled in the mountain, where he made his home in the caverns beneath it. During that time, his presence began to turn ordinary rocks into rubies, which Happy would use to trade for food and supplies. Though since nobody would do business with a cat, Happy trained himself in transformation magic, so he could turn himself into a human. Over the year, Natsu ate what Happy brought him, and spent most of his time eating, sleeping, and even on occasion, reading, which was most surprising for some reason. All this time, nobody has ever disturbed them, until rumor spread of a mountain filled to the brim with rubies, and the mining operations began.

It took time for the story to sink in for everyone.

"You should've just let him be," Happy said, as he stared at the floor, "He wasn't hurting anybody."

"I knew the disbandment would hit him hard," Mirajane said, "But I didn't think it would hit him this hard."

"I don't understand, how could this happen," Wendy said, still tearing and sniffling, "Natsu isn't supposed to be like this!" _I should've stayed with him!_ she thought, but too distressed to say outloud_ I shouldn't have left!_

"I know how," Lucy said, as everyone looked to her, as she sadly said, "Its obvious. The combined loss of Igneel, and Fairy Tail, it was too much for him, and he was devoured by his despair." It was hard to believe, that Natsu of all people, would fall to despair, but it was the only explanation.

"That doesn't change what is," Gajeel said, "That being Salamander is now a dragon, and he's dangerous."

"He's not dangerous!" Happy yelled, "He's just sad! Leave him alone, and he'll leave you alone!"

"See, the kitty agrees with you," Beth said to Millianna.

"That's not a kitty," Millianna grumbled, still pouting.

"I actually think Happy has a point there," Erza said, thinking, "Let's consider the fact that Natsu let Happy stay with him. Its fully possible there might still be some of our Natsu in that serpent." A lot of people seemed to agree that Erza was right. Lucy even had a feeling that Happy was the only remaining tether preventing Natsu from completely losing his humanity.

"What do you even propose we do, Gajeel?" Pantherlily asked.

"Wish I knew," Gajeel answered.

"Someone needs to talk to Natsu!" Happy said.

"Happy's right!" Erza said firmly, "I'll go up there, and talk with Natsu! No doubt he'll recognize me, and my past 'lessons'."

"Natsu's not himself," Cana said, "I don't think he's going to be afraid of you anymore, especially considering your size compared to his."

"I'll go!" Lisanna said, "If Natsu sees me and Happy, he'll remember the good times we had."

"My sister going into the lair of a dragon?" Elfman said, "As a real man, I can't permit that!"

"Elfman's right," Mirajane said, "Natsu tried to hurt us all before, he may try again."

"It should be me!" Wendy said.

"Wendy!" Carla scolded, "You can't go into that beast's lair!"

"Natsu isn't a beast!" Wendy protested, "If I can get down there, and talk to him, I can help him!"

"You're a little girl, little girl," Gajeel said as he stood, "I'm the guy who should go down there!"

"Natsu will melt you down in an instant!" Levy said, "You're probably one of the last people he'd want to see!" Soon, every member of Fairy Tail, and even some people from other guilds were volunteering to go down to Natsu's lair, and talk with him.

"Stop arguing!" Sting said, "You all know who it has to be!" Once again, Lucy was the center of attention.

"Me?" It did make sense, seeing as Natsu could've killed her, by chose not to.

"He's right!" Happy said, "Natsu will listen to Lucy! She'll talk some sense into him!"

"How can you know that?" Lucy said, "Natsu's never really listened to me in the past, why would he listen to me now?"

"Because he's always listened to you!" Happy said. Lucy lightly gasped at that. Had Natsu really been listening to her all this time?

"Please!" Happy begged, "I'm really scared about Natsu, his Fairy Tail mark has been getting smaller and smaller!"

"His mark?" Lucy asked. Happy nodded.

"On his shoulder is what remains of his mark," he explained, "But its shrinking, and now its only a small blotch. If it fully goes away…" Everyone knew what that meant. Lucy then understood what she had to do. She inhaled deeply, and stood up.

"I'm going!" she said firmly, "And no one can stop me!"

"Nobody's going to try," Erza answered with a smile. With that, Happy left, as Lucy moved to follow him.

"Bunny girl!" Gajeel called. Lucy looked over shoulder.

"Now that the cat's gone," Gajeel said as he walked over to where Lucy was, "You need to remember something."

"What?" Gajeel's face darkened.

"We all talk a big game of some of Salamander being left in the dragon," he said, "But no matter, what he's still a potential danger, and it is our duty as mages to stop a danger. If you fail to take him down…" His fists clenched, as Lucy looked down. She knew what was going to say before he said it.

"We're going to have to kill him."

**Note: The idea of Natsu's presence creating rubies comes to the old Western idea of dragons and their hoards. I wanted to incorporate that, but I couldn't think of a reason for all that treasure to be there. So I asked myself, what if the mere presence of a dragon can create treasure So I inserted the idea that after Natsu tok up residence in the cave, his magic aura turned stones into rubies. I figured rubies were good because rubies are red, which I believe is Natsu's color.**

**Not much in this chapter, just kind of the weight of what has just been revealed sinking in, and a few indications of what happened to Natsu over the time-skip. My plan for next chapter would be a primarily flashback one, detailing what's happened to Natsu in that time, and how life as a dragon was treating him, unless you believe it should be saved for later.**


	7. The Dragon's Aim

_**The Dragon's Aim**_

Lucy was certainly not going to tell Happy about what Gajeel told her. If she did, then Happy would go attack Gajeel, and maybe even warn Natsu. Lucy dared not let Natsu find that out. If he did, there was nothing stopping him from laying waste to the entire surrounding area, including Egora.

At the moment, Happy, still in human form, was flying Lucy back to the mountain. What she wouldn't give for him to make a comment about how heavy she was?

"Is there anything I should know about Natsu at this point?" Lucy asked.

"Just watch what you say," Happy said, "Natsu already had a short temper before he changed, but now, you say one thing wrong, he'll go crazy." _One more thing to feel sad about_ Lucy thought. Natsu's temper may have been, for lack of a better word, fiery, but it was never with any malicious intent, or cruelty. That seemed to be different at this point.

**(in the caves)**

Natsu couldn't sleep. He wanted to blame it on something like water dripping, or a ruby getting interlocked between a scale (don't be mistaken those can hurt). But he knew he couldn't lie to himself. He knew why he couldn't sleep.

_Why did they have to come back? _he thought_ I was trying to move on._ Maybe that wasn't true, but as far as Natsu was concerned it was. Here he sat, a mighty dragon of fire, like his father before him, ready to not just succeed his father as the Flame Dragon King, but the king of all dragons. But now all his former friends had to come back.

"**Damn them all!" **Natsu roared, as he held up his fire infused, three-clawed fist, and smashed it into the wall, creating a large hole in the wall**, "They turn their backs on me for all this time, and now they decide to come back?! Why can't they just leave me alone?! I don't need them! I don't need anyone!"** He let out a roar, loosing his fire into the air, and lashing his body around in his rage.

In the process, he slammed his head into the wall, which dazed him just long enough to lose his footing, and fall to the ground. As he law there, he stared at the ceiling of his cave, and remember back to when this all began….

_(Flashback)_

"_I AM… FIRE! I AM… DEATH!"_

_The fire consumed Natsu completely, hiding his body from view. Then, from the fire, emerged an enormous three claws hand, with a wing attached to it, and then another from the other side. Finally, a massive snake-like head and neck arose, and the fire died down. The newly transformed Natsu wavered, as he fell to all fours. He then rose his claw and looked at it._

"_**I'm… a dragon,"**__ he whispered. He overlooked his newly acquired body, as he flicked his tail, and ran his long tongue along his razor sharp teeth. Deciding to test something, he arched back, preparing his Dragon's Roar, as his chest lit up, like a furnace. He then let out a roar, and in addition, a stream of fire, that consumed much of the cave before him. Quickly following him, he arched by his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, and slammed it into the wall, blowing a hole clean though the mountain._

"_**All this power,"**__ Natsu muttered. He expected Smaug to pop into his head and make a comment about it, but the dragon within was silent. That was when Natsu came to the realization that, in a sense, he had become Smaug. Like a snake, he had shed his old skin, and become something greater. Never had he felt such a level of strength, With this power, he would destroy Acnologia, and all those who dared challenge him._

"_Natsu." The dragon whirled around, only to see Happy standing before him._

"_**Happy,"**__ Natsu growled__**, "What are you doing here?"**_

"_What happened to you?" Happy asked softly, as he teared up._

"_**I became stronger," **__Natsu answered__**, "With this power, I will turn Acnologia to ash!"**_

"_But what about…," Happy began._

"_**Fairy Tail is gone!"**__ Natsu snapped, startling Happy__**, "They've all left me!"**__ Happy just stared in fear and sorrow at his oldest friend, and adoptive father._

"_**Never again will I pledge myself to others, nor let others pledge themselves to me,"**__ Natsu explained__**, "With my own power, and my own power alone, I will avenge Igneel! And if doing that turns me into a fire dragon, like him before me, I will readily embrace this fate!"**_

"_What are you going to do?" Happy asked. Natsu turned to the hole he made in the cave. A storm was building up, but he didn't care._

"_**I'm leaving,"**__ Natsu answered, as he crawled towards the gap._

"_Wait!" Happy said, as he flew forward._

"_**What?"**_

"_Take me with you!" Happy called, as he jumped onto one of Natsu's horns. _

"_**Why would I do that?" **__Natsu inclined, as his eye rolled up._

"_Because I can be your servant!" Happy said quickly, "I can bring you food and fire to eat!" Natsu wanted to say no. He wanted to tell Happy to "piss off", and never bother him again. But he couldn't. Despite everything, Natsu couldn't leave Happy behind._

"_**Keeping up with me will be your responsibility," **__he said._

"_Thank you Natsu!" Happy said, hugging the horn. Natsu snorted, as he headed towards the exit._

"_Wait!" Happy cried, as he flew over to the remains of Natsu's clothes, "Don't forget this!" He held up Natsu's scarf, still completely intact. For a time, Natsu stared at it._

"_**Its a symbol of a past,"**__ Natsu said__**, "The future's all I have at this point. Leave it."**_

"_No!" Happy said firmly, as he fluttered up to Natsu's eye, which was now more much larger than the cat's own body, "Igneel gave this too you! You have to keep it!" Natsu thought about those words, before letting some steam out of his mouth, and gesturing with his eye. Happy, understanding, flew up to one of Natsu's horns, and tied it around it._

_With that, Natsu emerged from the opening, and jumped off the cliff. Happy cried as they fell, until Natsu opened his wings, and in an instant, was soaring through the air._

_(Pause Flashback)_

Natsu was broken from his thought when a stalactite fell to the ground, making a loud bang. _Damn this cave_ he thought, as he got up, and tried to slide under his rubies. Yes, _his_ rubies. They were created through his power, in his mountain, they belonged to him, and Natsu was going to be damned if anyone stole anything from him.

As he buried himself in his wealth, Natsu closed his eyes, and tried to go to sleep again. Maybe now his memories would finally leave him alone.

**(with Erza)**

Erza was sitting on the docks, having finally gotten away from the others. She needed some time alone with her thoughts. The fairy turned mermaid looked over the lake, as she thought about one of her closest friends, now a tremendous dragon. What were they going to do at this point? Would they really have to kill Natsu?

_No! _Erza thought _We're not going to do that! _At this point, she had to have faith in Lucy. Natsu managed to be calmed by her, if only barely, but she had to believe she could do it again. At that point, her communication lacrima lit up. She answered it.

"_Erza."_

"Gray," Erza responded. She was glad she was away from her guild mates now, she couldn't let anyone see her at this point.

"_Is it true?"_ Gray asked_, "Is there a dragon in the mountain?"_

"Yes, yes there is," Erza answered slowly.

"_So what the others said about it was true,"_ Gray muttered briefly.

"What were they even doing there?" Erza asked.

"_The priest wanted to gather the rubies for a source of magical power,"_ Gray explained_, "Obviously that isn't going to work. But what's with this dragon? I heard its a fire dragon, right?"_

"Yes," Erza said, "But the thing is…"

"_Do you have any idea where Natsu is?"_ Gray asked_, "He'd be more than helpf…"_

"Natsu's the dragon," Erza said bluntly. There was a brief silence.

"_That's…"_

"I know you're going to say its impossible," Erza interrupted, "I don't know it is possible, but somehow, Natsu transformed into a dragon." Gray was silent for a time, as he apparently thought over this.

"_What are you going to do?"_

"Lucy's here too. She's heading to the mountain right now to try and talk down Natsu."

"_Are you sure that's a good idea?"_ Gray asked.

"No," Erza answered, "I'd rather it be me going me up into that mountain into the dragon's lair. But the alliterative isn't any better."

"_What is the alternative?"_ Erza was silent. She still couldn't wrap her head around the second option.

"If we're unable to talk down Natsu, then he's going to be a danger to others," she answered, "If Lucy can't calm Natsu down, and potentially save him, then we're going to have to put Natsu down."

"_That's it!"_ Gray declared_, "Screw my being undercover! I've got to get there!"_

"You know you can't do that now!" Erza protested, standing up, "We've gotten this far, and we can't stop now!"

"_I'm not asking for your permission," _Gray said_, "What's going on there, trumps what's going on here!"_ Not leaving this open for discussion, he hung up. Erza sighed, staring at the lacrima.

"Well at least Juvia will be getting Gray back," she said.

**(in Natsu's lair)**

For any other race, being buried in rubies would probably be unpleasant, but for a dragon, it was actually quite cozy. Natsu enjoyed feeling the precious stones shipping under him. It actually made for a decently comfortable bed. Unfortunately, in his comfort, his memories slipped back to him…

_(Flashback)_

_Natsu had flown before, either with Happy carrying him, or using his fire wings to soar about. But this time was different. The feeling of the air under his wings, and the wind in his face, Natsu felt as if the sky belonged to him. _Is this what it feels to really be a dragon? _he thought._

_Happy was clinging hard to Natsu's horn, as Natsu soared through the air. He didn't speak until Natsu landed to get a drink of water from a lake._

"_Where are we going?" Happy asked._

"_**North,"**__ Natsu answered._

"_Why?" _

"_**Because that's where I want to go,"**__ Natsu answered bluntly. Honestly, the only reason he was flying North, was because it was the direction he had been facing when he first took flight. He didn't care where it lead him, just as long as it was away from Magnolia, and away from _them_. _

_After Natsu finished, he instructed Happy to climb back on to his horn. And with that, he flapped back into the air. They spent an hour or so flying, before Happy noticed something._

"_Natsu!" he called._

"_**What?"**_

"_There's something going on in the West!" Natsu looked in the direction, and noticed trails of smoke._

"_**So?"**__ he asked._

"_Aren't you going to do something? People might be danger!"_

"_**I'm a fire dragon!"**__ Natsu said__**, "I don't stop fires, I make them!"**_

"_Why can't we go over there?" Happy asked, "What's the problem?" Natsu opened his mouth protest, but instead he just clenched his teeth, and flew West._

_Eventually, Natsu noticed what looked like a town, being attacked by a a dark guild of some sorts. Apparently, there was some kind of legal guild there, judging by the mages assembled before them._

"_We've got to…" But the dragon beat him to the punch, and swooped down, and over the village, much to everyones horror._

"_Dragon!" the leader of the dark mages cried, as the dark mages scattered, only to be quickly consumed in Natsu's fire. The villagers cheered at Natsu as he flew over._

"_You did it, Natsu!" Happy said excitedly. But Natsu wasn't done yet. He flew over, and at that point, he noticed the sizable guild hall. His eyes narrowed, as he dove towards the guild hall._

"_Natsu, what are you doing?" Happy asked. Natsu didn't give time to answer, as he opened up his wings, and started his descent. He held up his back talons, as they were cloaked in fire. With that, Natsu crashed into the guild hall, crushing it beneath his feet, and anyone unfortunate enough to still be in there._

_The townspeople stared in shock as the dragon, who they initially thought to be their savior, had just destroyed the guild they relied on for protection._

"_Natsu…. why?" Happy asked in horror. Natsu held his head up high. He looked over the villagers, and then into the distance. At this point, he knew what he had to do, what his world had become, and what he had to do._

"_**My world, no, the world itself, is dead,"**__ Natsu said darkly__**, "It is time for this world of guilds to end in fire. After I end Acnologia, and claim for myself the title of 'Dragon King', I will scour the land, and bring an end to all guilds. Light, dark, independent, they will all be turned to ash." **__ He then picked up a piece of rubble, that had the symbol of the guild he just obliterated._

"_**The world will end in fire, and from the ashes, a new world will arise, one of strength, and power,"**__ he growled as he crushed the rubble in his claws__**, "This is my mission."**__ Happy (and everyone else there) looked on in horror at Natsu's speech. But one by one, the people of the town fell to one knee in signs of submission, until the entire town was kneeling before Natsu, while Happy just watched on in horror._

_**(a few months later)**_

_For the next five months, Natsu traveled from town to town, destroying guilds he could find. The people who lived in that town, and the surviving mages, of which there were remarkable many of, pledged themselves to Natsu, out of either respect, or fear. As a result, no word of a dragon traveling the North of Fiore reached the Magic Council. All this time, Happy always kept close to him, never leaving Natsu's side._

_One day, Natsu was flying across the North, before he noticed something. A large mountain, on its own, surrounding by no other mountains. Something about it seemed very enticing, and he started veering towards it._

"_What are you doing?" Happy asked._

"_**I found us our home,"**__ Natsu declared, as he soared towards it. He then perched on the side of the mountain, and slammed a fire infused fist into it. With that, he slithered into the hole he just broke open. He dipped his head in, letting out a puff of fire, lighting up the cavern within. _

"_Its huge!" Happy said, his eyes wide. Indeed, the cavern was massive, big enough for Natsu to move completely freely, and even maybe flutter around slightly. Natsu floated down the ground, as he looked around for a place to sleep._

"_**There!"**__ he declared gesturing to a large pit._

"_It looks kind of scary," Happy said nervously._

"_**That's my choice,"**__ Natsu said, as he slithered into it__**, "This mountain will be my castle, after I become the king!"**_

"_Yes Natsu," Happy said softly._

_(End Flashback)_

Natsu shifted in his rubies. He would have to resume his plan soon. But something about what just happened….

"**Why couldn't they have left me alone?"** he muttered.

**(with Happy and Lucy)**

Happy set Lucy on the ground in the cave. Lucy needed to do this. She had no choice. She had to do this, not just for the people here, but for Natsu as well. Lucy knew that some of Natsu had to be left in there, and she had to get it.

During this, Happy let his memory wander back to when this was all set up…

_(Flashback)_

_Happy sat on the edge of the pit, in his human form, staring at the cave ceiling. He fiddled a ruby through his hands in silence. That was when heard voices for the first time in a while. He ducked behind a rock, as he saw a group of men, lead by one short man, with blocky features, and a large nose. The man was a dwarf._ **(I mean dwarf as in the race, not just a little person)**

"_What's a dwarf doing here?" Happy muttered softly to himself._

"_Look at all these rubies!" the dwarf said in awe, "Imagine the wealth this can offer me!"_

"_Indeed, Lord Murninator," one of the men standing next to him said. _

"_We must begin mining operations immediately!" the dwarf, Murninator, said, "Inform every worker that we're starting now!" _

_Happy wanted to warn him, he wanted to tell him run away, to not wake Natsu up. To let him sleep. But something prevented him. That thing, was his loyalty to Natsu, to his…._

_(End Flashback)_

_King?_ Happy thought. Was Natsu his king now?

Lucy stood before the pit, as she stared down into the darkness.

"Let's go," she said firmly.

"Are you sure about this?" Happy asked.

"This was your idea," Lucy said, "Its too late to stop now. Take me down." After a brief pause, Happy picked up Lucy, and descended down into the dragon's lair.

**Note: I actually wrote some of this chapter with a picture of Smaug in my view. Now we know what Natsu's plan is. He intends to destroy all of the guilds, and burn the old world to the ground, and raise a new world, with him as the king.**

**In the list of things I really didn't think Natsu would do, telling Happy to "piss off" was among them, even if he turned into a dragon. In addition, I wanted to give Natsu a little more of a dark edge, to demonstrate how's he's falling to darkness. I wanted to do what I could, to make Natsu legitimately dark, for as long as I can. **

**Now in light of the most recent two chapters, I decided to change up what was going on with Gray and Juvia. You'll be seeing them sooner than I initially anticipated. Speaking of the recent chapters, apparently on MangaPark, Fairy Tail has just overtaken Bleach for the No.3 spot.**

**A quick note I'd like to make, because my comment at the top of the page about rubies and them getting interlocked with scales, was supposed to be like those things some authors put in at the beginning and endings of their stories as parts of the Author Note. Personally, I can't stand those, they are a major pet peeve of mine. No disrespect to the authors themselves or their stories, I just really hate those things. So my comment is probably the closest you're going to get of something like that.**


	8. A Conversation with Natsu

_**A Conversation with Natsu**_

Happy, with Lucy in her arms, gently descended down the pit, into Natsu's lair. Lucy was certainly nervous; she figured anyone who was about to meet with a giant dragon, would be understandably nervous. As they descended, she thought about what she was going to say. Maybe ask Natsu what he had been doing over the year? What he was planning on doing? What they were going to do now? Eventually, they descended into the massive lower cavern. Lucy was astounded at the sight before her.

The cavern was almost as big as the one above them, with huge columns stalactite, and stalagmites littered around. On one side, was a large pool of water, that seemed almost crystal-clear. But that wasn't what got Lucy's attention. What her attention was on, was the ocean of near perfectly cut rubies, that gave the cavern a red glow. Lucy couldn't even see the floor under all the rubies. Happy set Lucy on the floor, as Lucy briefly lost her footing, as the rubies shifted beneath her feet.

"Careful," Happy said, as he turned back into his cat form, "Those rubies are just stacked on top of each other."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said, as she started to slowly move across the jewels, pausing every so often to regain her balance. She looked around, hoping to see Natsu, but she couldn't see him anyway.

"Where's Natsu?" she asked.

"I don't know, actually," Happy answered, as he looked around, "He's probably buried under the rubies."

"This place is huge!" Lucy said, "This will take forever!"

**(in Egora)**

"How much time are we giving her before someone goes after her?" Yuka asked. Lamia Scale was assembled in a field on the edge of Egora, in a place where they could all keep an eye of the mountain.

"Erza said that we'll all head to the mountain if Lucy's not back in six hours," Lyon answered, "That gives her an hour to get there, four hours to talk with Natsu, and one hour back."

"Is that enough time?" Chelia asked.

"We're going to have to hope it is," Lyon answered. Chelia looked over at Wendy, who was sitting at the edge of the field, staring up at the mountain. Carla, as a cat, was sitting next to her.

"Poor Wendy," Chelia said. She felt like she should go over there and say something to her, but she figured that there was nothing she could say to her at this point. The poor Dragon Slayer was probably going through enough at this point.

"She has all the right to feel like that," Lyon said, "I would to if anyone I loved turned into something like that." Chelia shuttered at the thought of something like that happening, like if Wendy turned into a dragon herself.

"What can we do?" she asked.

"Again, we're going to have to have hope."

"Don't tell me you're all going soft!" a familiar voice called. Everyone turned.

"Is that…," Toby began. From the edge of the forest, emerged two people, a man and a woman. The woman had blue hair, and was wearing rain clothes, while the man had black hair, and was barely wearing any clothes at all.

"Yo!"

"Gray! Juvia!" Wendy cried, as she saw her two friends coming, and she ran up to them.

"Wendy!" Juvia said, as she and Wendy hugged. Gray tussled Wendy's hair slightly.

"What're you guys doing here?" Chelia asked as she ran up. She briefly shot a glare at Juvia, remembering Lyon's feelings for her, but she was still happy to see them all.

"We heard there was trouble," Gray said, "We had to investigate." He and Lyon briefly clasped hands.

"Care to tell us what's been going on?" Lyon asked.

"Well…"

_(Flashback)_

_Juvia was sitting in the rain her lonesome, as she continued to wait, ever patiently. It had been months since Gray had vanished, but Juvia knew that she couldn't move. She had to be there when Gray came back, and she didn't care how long it took, as long as it happened. Little did she know, that her waiting was about to pay off._

"_Come on!" Juvia's head perked up at the sound of that voice._

"_Don't tell me you've lost your touch?" Gray said as he approached, "This rain's beneath you." Juvia stared in shock, before all of a sudden, the rain abruptly stopped._

"_Gray…," she said slowly._

"_Sorry it took so long," Gray said, "I can explain later, but right now…" He didn't get to explain, as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Juvia._

"_You're back!" Juvia cried, tears in her eyes, "Juvia's been waiting for a while, and she'd knew you'd come back!" Gray looked at her in shock._

"_You've been waiting for me this whole time?" he asked._

"_Juvia had to make sure her darling came back to a good place," Juvia said, "She couldn't sleep if she knew that Gray came back to no one." Gray was surprised, before he slowly wrapped his arms around Juvia._

"_You idiot," he muttered._

_(End Flashback)_

"Damn," Lyon muttered, he'd missed his chance with Juvia.

"Is it true?" Gray asked seriously, "I heard it from Erza, but I want to hear it from you too. Is Natsu a dragon?" Lyon was silent, before he opened his mouth and…

"It is true," Wendy suddenly spoke up, "I saw it as well. Natsu has become a dragon."

"That's…," Juvia said in shock, "That's unbelievable."

"Well we better believe it apparently," Gray said, as he looked to the mountain, "We may be living it soon enough."

**(in the lower caverns of the mountain)**

Lucy had been looking or Natsu for a while now, with no sign of him. Lucy figured that he was buried beneath he rubies, and that he was either an even sounder sleeper than before (which wasn't hard to buy), or was just ignoring her (which wasn't hard to buy either).

"Screw this," she muttered, before inhaling.

"Wait!" Happy hissed, but it was too late.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, "Wake up!" Her voice echoed across the cave, which was responded by a silence. Lucy was gearing up to yell again, but suddenly there was a sudden blast of hot air that came from next to her, nearly blowing her off her feet. Lucy turned, and saw a pair of nostrils, lined with red scales. It was quickly followed by a large head shifting out of the rubies. A massive eye opened, revealing a thin slit.

"Natsu," Lucy said, as she turned to face one of her closest friends. A claw reached up, and grabbed onto one of the columns, as Natsu pulled himself out of the wealth, holding up his long neck. A growl resonated through his throat.

"**Lucy."** The blonde clenched her fists, as she stared up at Natsu, trying desperately to not show her fear.

"**Why did you bring her here?"** Natsu asked, shooting a glance at Happy**, "No one else is allowed in my inner chamber."**

"I wanted you to talk with Lucy," Happy said, "She'll…" Then he found himself under Natsu's fiery glare.

"I was thinking maybe she'd make a good scribe for the court!" Happy said quickly.

"Scribe?" Lucy asked in surprise. Natsu looked Lucy over briefly, before looking at Happy again.

"**Leave,"** he instructed.

"But…"

"**Leave!"** Natsu repeated. Happy quickly flew back up the shaft. Natsu's attention then went to Lucy.

"What did he mean by scribe?" she asked.

"**From what I've read royal courts had record keepers and scribes,"** Natsu answered.

"Royal court?"

"**But it doesn't matter, I can tell when Happy's lying. So why don't you tell me what you're doing here?"** Lucy stared at the ground for a time, as she thought of her answer. When it came to her, she looked back up at Natsu. Natsu could see something in her eyes.

"I'm here to talk some sense into you!" the reporter said firmly.

"**I'm perfectly sensible,"** Natsu answered, cocking his head, and moving forward**, "If anything, I"m more sensible then I've ever been."** Lucy noticed how grabbed at the columns in order to move through them.

"No, you're not," Lucy said, "The Natsu I know would never try and hurt his friends like that."

"**I'm neither the Natsu you know, nor are they my friends,"** Natsu hissed.

"How can you say that?" Lucy said, "Consider all we've been through! Are we that little to you?"

"**What does it matter?"** Natsu asked**, "The past is in the past."**

"That's not true!" Lucy said, "Now stop dodging the question!" Natsu overlooked Lucy briefly. Lucy decided she wasn't going to let Natsu intimidate her. If she did, then she wouldn't have a chance of getting through to him, which in turn increased the chance of Natsu getting an iron spear put through his heart.

"**You're ordering me around?"** he noted**, "That's never happened before."**

"Well I've never seen you acting like this! I'm going to talk with you whether you like it or not!" Natsu thought about that. He figured that Lucy wasn't going to give up, and as things stood simply incinerating her wasn't preferable, so with that in mind…

"**Igneel and Fairy Tail, my father and my home, is gone,"** Natsu explained**, "I've lost everything."**

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, "Fairy Tail may be gone, but we're not gone! We're all still with you!"

"**You weren't with me then,"** Natsu answered**, "You all just up and left."**

"So we don't have the right to move on?" Lucy said, "We all have lives to live!" Natsu hissed, as a cloud of steam leaked from the corners of his mouth.

"**So I'm not allowed to live my life?"** Natsu answered.

"Not if it puts others in danger," Lucy answered, "You above everyone else should know that mustn't be done."

"**I know what must be done at this point,"** Natsu said.

"Please tell me then!"

"**You know how Happy mentioned a 'scribe'?"** Natsu asked.

"What of it?" Lucy asked. Natsu's head rose high, as he stood proudly.

"**This world is dead. After I end Acnologia, and become the King of Dragons, I must cremate it. And from the ashes I will create a new world."** Lucy's eyes widened as she came to an understanding.

"**This world of guilds will burn,"** Natsu rumbled**, "One by one, my fire will consume the remaining guilds, as it will those who do not bow to me. I will rule this world of fire, a world of power, and individuals! And to rule this world, I will need subjects, I will need a court. According to Happy, you're suitable for the court." **There was a silence between the two, as Lucy just looked up at Natsu, before her gaze fell to the ground. Her hands turned into fists.

"How dare you…," Lucy said, "I've heard some selfish things from you, but I've never heard something like that from you!" She then looked straight at Natsu, glaring hard.

"So you're going by a belief that if you can't have a guild, no one can?" she demanded angrily, "You know what, maybe you will be able to defeat Acnologia, seeing as you've become just like him!" Natsu let out a roar as he shot his head at Lucy.

"**Don't you compare me to that monster!" **he snapped**, "I'm nothing like him!"**

"You're vowing to destroy the world based on your petty feelings!" Lucy responded, "I wouldn't be surprised if someone from the future came with the intention of stopping you!" Natsu let out a growl as he moved away. Lucy ran after him.

"You could have done something with your life after Fairy tail was gone!" Lucy yelled, "But instead you decide to sit here wallowing in your own self pity like some oversized earthworm!"

"**Don't act like you understand!" **Natsu said as he swooped his head back down to Lucy**, "You were the one who drove me to this!"**

"Is that so?" Lucy answered, glaring hard at him, "Then please elaborate me how this happened!"

"**You abandoned me!"** Lucy was suddenly silenced by that, as she stared at Natsu. Natsu let out a hiss as he started moving away again.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked slowly.

"**What do you care?" **Natsu answered**, "You didn't care a year ago."**

"Because you're my friend," Lucy said plainly.

"**Then tell me why you so readily walked away,"** Natsu said**, "Why you, and everyone else, left me when I needed you all the most. I had just lost Igneel, the one I had been searching for all my life."**

"Gajeel and Wendy also lost their dragons," Lucy said, "So did Sting and Rogue."

"**They went nowhere near what I went through,"** Natsu responded**, "Did they have to watch their parent get savagely torn in half, and followed up by being blown to bits? No, they got to peacefully part with them. Were you under the misconception that I went through something like that?"**

"No…," Lucy began.

"**And then you all decide to just walk away from me?"** Natsu hissed, his nails grinding against the stone, leaving deep gashes**, "You decide to just walk away from Fairy Tail, as if its something disposable?"** Lucy never thought about it that way. All this time, she had been thinking about herself, and how angry she was at Natsu. She never thought about how Natsu must have been feeling during all of this.

"I'm…," she said softly.

"**Spare me your 'sorries'," **Natsu hissed**, "I don't need them. Like you, I've moved on, I forged my own path."**

"Natsu!" Lucy said, "This isn't you! You're better than this! You're supposed to be the one to make people smile!"

"**That is no longer me,"** Natsu hissed**, "I was naive then. Now I've become strong, I've become greater."**

"You're not greater in the least!" Lucy said, "You've turned into some kind of demon!" Natsu looked away, as he looked into his reflection in the pool of water.

"**And I'm stronger for it,"** he said softly, or as soft as a dragon could speak.

"You know that's not true," Lucy said as she slowly approached him.

"You know where your true strength comes from," she continued, she gently raised her hand, "It comes from your comrades. And we're always with you." She then put her hand on the side of Natsu's neck.

_Always with you… always with you… always with you…_

Natsu's eyes suddenly turned to slits, as he reared up, and let out a bellowing roar that knocked Lucy and a great many rubies away.

"**You weren't with me then!"** he roared**, "You left me alone in my sorrow! You and everyone else turned away from me!" **He then stormed over Lucy towards the shaft.

"**I don't need you! I don't need anyone!"** With that, he started climbing out of the shaft, as Lucy looked on in horror. She then began to cry

"Natsu…," she whispered, as she got her knees, and covered her face, and sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

**(at the foot of the mountain)**

The other guilds and the Magic Council had assembled before the mountain's foot, out of nervousness for Lucy. No one was probably fully comfortable with sending her down into the dragon's lair with just Happy.

"I don't like it," Erza said, as she stared at the mountain, "I have a feeling that something is wrong."

"Well, considering Erza's senses there's probably some credit to that," Araña said.

"I'm going in there!" Erza declared, as she stared to head towards the entrance.

"Strike that!" Gajeel yelled, "You can't go down there swords a swinging!"

"Says the guy whose current fallback is killing Natsu?" Erza countered, as she turned to look at him.

"We need to give Lucy more time!" Mirajane said, "I'm sure she'll…" Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Everyone paled, they knew what was happening.

"Natsu," Wendy whispered.

At that exact moment, the mountain wall exploded, as a huge red dragon emerged from the dust. It let out a roar as it stomped forward, as everyone watched in horror.

"**I STAND ALONE!" **Natsu roared, as he jumped into the air, and opened his wings**, "All will burn!" **With that, he dove back down towards the others, as his chest lit up.

**Note: The title is a reference (of course) to "A Conversation with Smaug". Sorry if this seemed rushed, but I tried my best to give a good conversation between Natsu and Lucy. I hope you all liked it. I also tried to do my best for Gray and Juvia to be back, since I wanted those two to be present for what's coming next.**

**Something I'm surprised more people don't know, is that Wendy and Chelia aren't the same age. Chelia's actually three years older than Wendy, since it was said that she was older on her character page back in the GMG arc.**

**And really, just four reviews last chapter? Come on people, I won't post the next chapter until I've got 60. Just kidding, can you imagine if I did that? That'd be incredibly petty.**


	9. The Dragon's Ire

_**The Dragon's Ire**_

In Egora, the people could see a glow coming from the mountain. They could see a light glow coming from it.

"That must be the mages doing something," one young man said.

"Those mages are so awesome," a girl said, "I wish I was one."

"Don't be fools," an elderly woman said as she walked past the pair, "They've done the one thing that should never have been done: they've woken the dragon."

"You actually think there's a dragon in there?" the girl asked, "That's crazy."

"That glow can only come from dragon fire," the woman said darkly, as she looked to the mountain, "Woe unto the poor souls who were foolish enough to earn the serpent's wrath. For you see, the ire of a dragon, is fiercer than any flame."

**(at the mountain)**

"Scatter!" Erza cried. Everyone did that, as Natsu swooped down at them. His chest was glowing fiercely.

"Here he comes!" Gray said. Natsu suddenly opened up his wings, as well as his mouth. As he soared over the camp, his fire cascaded out. The mages fled, as Natsu passed over, breathing his fire. After he completed his pass, he flapped back up.

"Get to the trees!" Hibiki said, "He can't pick us off in there!"

"That's insane!" Gajeel said, "He'll just burn the whole woods down!" But most of the people were already fleeing into the trees, and they were forced to follow.

"**You will not escape me!"** Natsu roared, as he swooped back towards the forest, as he breathed more of his fire, setting the trees ablaze.

"Where do we go?" Yukino asked.

"Do we go to Egora?" Ogra asked.

"No, anywhere but Egora!" Rogue answered, "We'll be sentencing them to their deaths!"

"Then where do we go?" Lector asked.

"Fro wants to know too!"

"For now we should stay to the forest," Minerva explained, "Here, nobody will get hurt!"

"Save for us!" Rufus responded.

"Just keep moving!" Sting said. Natsu performed another pass, as he breathed a stream of fire, cutting off everyone's path. They all turned and started running in a different direction.

"To hell with this running, Lily!" Gajeel called as he ran.

"I'm on it!" Pantherlily answered, as he flew at Gajeel, and picked him. He then flew back up, above the treelike. Gajeel looked up, and saw Natsu flying in his direction, breathing more of his fire at the forest.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel said, as he let out his roar. The stream of dragon iron shot at Natsu, only to bounce cleanly off the fire dragon's scales.

"Damn!" Gajeel said as Lily moved back.

"Lector!"

"Frosch!"

"I'm on it!"

"Fro too!" The two exceeds picked up their Dragon Slayers, and flew up. As Natsu was making his fourth pass over the forest, the two of them rose to face him.

"Holy Shadow Dragon's Flash Fang!" the two said in unison, as they blasted their enormous attack at Natsu. However, it was also easily deflected by Natsu's scales. And as Natsu passed them by, his tail lashed out, and knocked them away, though Lector and Frosch managed to retain their grip.

"This clearly isn't working," Pantherlily noted.

"What else is there to do, though?" Sting asked, "He's moving too fast for us to try and jump onto him."

"Then we improvise!" Gajeel said, "Let's go!" With that, he, and the others were flown over to keep up with Natsu.

Meanwhile, on the ground, those who couldn't fly, were trying to avoid the flames. Juvia was using her magic to try and douse the flames, as Levy did the same with her Solid Script Water. Unfortunately, they were the only ones with the proper magic to douse flames.

"What do we do?" Chelia asked.

"Can you and Wendy blow out the flames?" Toby asked.

"That would just make the flames stronger," Chelia answered, "I can't do that!" She noticed Wendy looking up in Natsu. Her face was filled with nothing but horror.

"Natsu…," she said softly, "Please…." Natsu let out another roar as he swooped over her.

"…stop," Wendy said, as she fell to her knees, as she broke down in tears.

"Wendy, we've got to keep moving!" Carla, in human form, said, tugging on Wendy's arm, but the Sky Dragon Slayer refused to move. Eventually Carla just picked her up, and flew her away.

"Hell am I letting that idiot do this!" Erza said, as she re-quipped into her Black Wing Armor, and flew into the air, just as Natsu was passing over. Erza then reached out, and grabbed onto his leg flew by.

"Erzy!" Millianna cried. Said mage slowly began to maneuver up Natsu's leg, re-quipping into her Flame Empress armor in the process.

"Natsu!" she yelled, as she pulled herself onto Natsu's back, and held up her sword, and slashed down. However, the attack, like all the others, didn't do anything against Natsu, but this one did get his attention. He looked up back at Erza.

"**Erza,"** he growled. Memories flooded in. He was there for her in the Tower of Heaven, he was there for her when Jellal was taken prisoner, and he was there for her when they fought Grimoire Heart. But where was she when Igneel was lost? With newfound anger, Natsu spun through the air, in an attempt to shake her off, but Erza held fast.

"Why are you doing this?!" Erza demanded, "Answer me, damn it!"

"**Why should I?!" **Natsu responded**, "You didn't care then!"**

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Erza said, "We're always there for you!"

"**The hell you are!" **Natsu answered, as he spun through the air again, only this time he did even harder. This caused Erza's grip to loosen just enough for Natsu to shake her off.

"Erza!" the Mermaid Heel mages, as well as several other mages cried out.

"Riley!" Kagura called out.

"Yeah!" Riley responded. The two used their combined gravity magic to soften Erza's fall.

"Damn it!" Erza said, as she looked up as Natsu flapped away.

"Lyon! Let's do this!" Gray said.

"You know it!" The two Ice mages got ready to attack, both stripping off their shirts. They put their fists together, and stood side by side.

"Ice Make:..," they said together.

"No!" Wendy cried.

"Blade Eagle!" Their Unison Raid blasted out at Natsu, taking the form of an enormous eagle with its wings shaped like blades. It soared at Natsu, who saw it coming. He held up his tail, and cloaked it in fire, before smashing it into the ice eagle, destroying it completely.

"Come on!" Cana said, "We can't let this giant snake go burning up everything, even if he used to be our comrade!" She then looked to her guild mates in Quatro Cerberus.

"What're we boys?" she asked.

"Wild!"

"Let's go!" Cana said, as she brought out her cards, "Bacchus!"

"The Drunken Duo are back in the game!" Bacchus said in response. Cana then threw her cards into the air. Bacchus then struck them at Natsu, as he passed by. The cards were water and wind, and when they activated after Bacchus' strike, it sent a careening torrent at Natsu, as he passed by. It struck him in the chest, and while it didn't do any damage, it doused Natsu's fire, preventing from breathing fire at that point.

"Men!" Ichiya said, "The dragon fire is giving off an abhorrent parfume! We must extinguish it!"

"What do we do?" Ren asked, "None of us possessed the power level to go against Natsu when he was a human, what are we able to do when he's a dragon?"

"Don't forget the lovely parfume we already have with us!" Ichiya said, pointing up. Mirajane, in Satan Soul, and Lisanna, with bird wings, were flying at Natsu.

"Forgive me Natsu!" Mirajane cried, as she charged up a blast of dark magic, and shot it at Natsu. It hit Natsu in the side of the face as he flew with another past with his fire. That at the very least got his attention, as his eyes shot at the Strauss Siblings.

"**You!"** he roared. He'd been through so much when them, especially Lisanna, and even then, they had left him with nothing but his sorrow. He then flapped straight at them, as he loosed his fire. The girls managed to fly out of the way just in time.

**(in the mountain)**

Lucy was sitting amongst the sea of rubies, sobbing. She remembered Natsu's words of how they abandoned him. She curbed her mind for rationale about what happened, but there was nothing she could find. Had she, and everybody else, abandoned Natsu in his time of need?

Natsu had been there when Lucy lost her father, and he'd been there overtime she needed him. But when Natsu needed her, she was focused on what she was going to do to go and console him.

"I'm sorry….. I'm sorry….. I'm sorry," she chanted. This was all her fault, she had to make up for it somehow, but she didn't know how.

"Lucy!" The blonde looked up, and saw Happy flying at her.

"What happened?" Happy asked, "I saw Natsu running out of here, but he was angrier than I've ever seen!"

"Its my fault," Lucy said, "I left him when he needed me the most! I'm the reason he became this beast!" She then rose to her feet, tear still in her eyes.

"I've got to go make things right!" she declared, "Take me out of here!" Happy, not missing a beat, quickly picked Lucy up, and flew her up the shaft. At the top, Lucy noticed the cave had been torn apart, and she could see a huge hole in the side of the mountain, where Natsu no doubt exploded out of.

The two of the emerged from the mountain, to see the horror before them. The land was on fire. The area at the foot of the mountain, as well the woods, were blazing so bright it was if it were day.

There was a roar, as they could see Natsu soaring in the distance, breathing fire over the forest. There were flashes of light, no doubt the mages trying to fight back at Natsu.

"We've got to get over there!" Lucy cried.

"Aye!" Happy responded, as he flew them in the proper direction.

**(in the woods)**

Wendy was one of the few who wasn't fighting. She just remained on her knees, as she cried. Carla was sitting next to her, as was Chelia, trying to get her moving. She looked over the area, as she saw the fire blazing. The heat was unimaginable, as if Wendy was inside the fire itself. She watched as Natsu passed over again, letting loose his fire.

She could not believe it. She refused to believe it. But that didn't change the fact that it was true: Natsu had become a monster.

"Natsu!" she cried. Those words carried over the burning trees, as they somehow managed to reach Natsu's ears. He looked down, and saw Wendy.

"**Wendy,"** he rumbled. He then swooped down, fanning his wings out to slow his decent.

"He's landing!" Gajeel said, "Get down there!" The people in the air flew down, while those on the ground headed to where Natsu was landing. Natsu crashed into the burning trees, creating small clearing. Everyone assembled before him, ready to fight. Natsu's head then worked around to face them.

"**You think you could defeat me?!"** Natsu hissed**, "What are you all, compared to my power?" **He then start slinking towards them, as his crashed through burning trees. Everyone held strong, as they prepared for Natsu to strike, but he didn't. He grinned darkly, his tongue leaking out of his mouth. The glow of the fire made shadows dance on his scales.

"**They say the world will end in fire,"** he spoke**, "And it seems they were right in that respect, only I'm to be the progenitor. My soul is the engine that will burn this world down to the ground! And as one thought sparks ignition of my vengeful wrath, one thing can subdue it…"** He then reared up, looming over all them.

"**Bow to me!" **Those words echoed across the land, as everyone stared up at Natsu.

"You want us to bow to you?" Mirajane asked.

"**As I said I have said many a time before, this world of guilds must burn,"** Natsu explained**, "I will turn these dwellings of falsehood and hypocrisy to ash, and build up a new world! This world of fire, of which I shall rule, will be built on one of individuals, and strength, but I am not like Acnologia. I do not wish to kill all within it. So I will say again, bow to me!"** There was a silence, save for the roar of the blazing fire, as everyone averted their eyes from the tremendous serpent before them.

"**Wendy."** The Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes perked up to look at Natsu.

"**Come with me!" **Natsu said**, "I can teach you power that you could only ever dream of! I can make you something so much greater than anything you could be in this pitiful form!"** Wendy remained silent, before she took a single step forward.

"Wendy!" Carla said, as she grabbed Wendy's arm, only to be shaken off. Wendy stood before the great fire dragon, as she looked up. Tears were in her eyes.

"Natsu," she said, "At one time, you were my teacher, but you were also something much more. You were my brother. I looked up to you, I aspired to be like you, I wanted to someday walk alongside you. But now.." She hung her head.

"You've become something horrible," she cried, shaking it, "I can't stand with you now!"Natsu stared at Wendy, as he closed his eyes, before opening them again. _So you abandoned me as well, just like the others, _he thought.

"We will never bow to you!" Erza proclaimed, "No one in their right mind will ever bow to a monster like the one you've become!" Voices of agreement sounded out. Natsu's eyes began to glow, as his chest flared up again. The red blotch, all that remained of his humanity, was reduced to a single small scale.

"**So be it,"** he then reared his head up, and opened his mouth. At that moment, two huge rocks sprung up beside him, and smashed his wing between them. Natsu let out a thundering roar that could be heard for miles.

"**My wing!" **he bellowed as he stumbled back, grabbing at his injured limb.

"Jura!" Lyon said. The Wizard Saint emerged from the burning trees, his face dead serious. Natsu let out pained cry, as he tried to flap up. He then started heading back towards the mountain, but his flight pattern was off.

"What's with him?" Levy asked.

"I think his wing is broken," Gajeel said in surprise.

**(at the mountain)**

Natsu stumbled into the mountain, as he limped towards his pit, but as he climbed into it. But as he was climbing down, his wounded wing slipped, and he tumbled into the pit head first. Tears were in his eyes, but they weren't from the pain.

"**Wendy,"** Natsu murmured. Even the girl, who was his sister in all but name, had deserted him. Natsu suddenly felt more alone than he'd ever felt before.

**(in the woods)**

"We must end this beast now!" Jura said.

"Jura's right!" Gajeel said, "This just confirmed everything we were afraid of! There's nothing in Salamander now but a monster! He's a danger to the world, and we must destroy him!"

Slowly but surely, voices of agreement sounded out. They all knew what had happened, and they knew Gajeel was right. Natsu was dangerous, and he had to be stopped, because he wouldn't stop himself.

"You can't!" Lucy cried, as she and Happy flew in.

"Lucy!" Yukino said.

"You're okay!" Erza said.

"You have to understand what Natsu's going through!" Lucy said, "Fairy Tail's disbandment isn't what got to him! It was us! We abandoned him in his time of need!"

"We abandoned him?" Wendy asked.

"Natsu has always been there for us in our darkest hour," Lucy explained, "But when Igneel died, none of us were there for Natsu! We were so focused on ourselves, and what we would do, we never thought of who this would affect others, especially him!" There was another silence, as everyone took Lucy's explanation in.

"That's probably true," Jura said, as he approached, "And it brings me tremendous pain to know what we must do, but Sir Natsu is a danger to countless innocent people. If we don't stop him, he will kill who knows how many. What's done is done, and now, we must do what we can."

"If anything, this will probably end up as a mercy kill," Sting said, "We're delivering Natsu from this."

"Everyone!" Gajeel said, "We're going!"

"Wait!" Erza said. Everyone stopped and looked at her, as she hung her head. Lucy and Happy were hopeful that Erza could dissuade the others. Then she looked up, tears streaming down her face.

"His weak spot will be his scar," Erza sobbed through her tears, "We need to aim for that."

"NO!" Lucy and Happy cried as they ran forward.

"Icihya."

"Men," Ichiya said sadly, as he blew a cloud of his perfume at them, putting both woman and cat to sleep.

"Let's go!" Gajeel said, and with that, everyone started running towards the mountain.

**Note: I understand that going into the trees may not have been the most practical idea considering the fact that Natsu breathes fire, but I thought a forest was a more interesting location for the scene, instead of the camp. "Rule of Cool" you know. Some of you may have noticed that I took a couple lines from the parody of "Let it Go", "Let 'em Burn". This actually wasn't that easy, because I knew what I wanted to write, I just didn't know how to put it to computer screen. Some of you may have also noticed that I redid the story's opening line with Wendy, which was a conscious decision.**

**I generally don't respond to reviewers in-fic, but since this one individual is a guest reviewer, so I can't PM. That said… to Domis Basool, Wendy didn't age in the Fairy Sphere, so after the 7 year timeskip, she was still 12, though after the second time-skip, she did age, so at this point, she's 13, and Chelia's 16. You can see this information on the Fairy Tail wiki. I also wanted to Natsu to sound like Natsu, showing that still is a little bit of him left in the serpent.**


	10. Tears of Fire

_**Tears of Fire**_

The Magic Council, and all the guilds were assembled before the massive pit, ready to do what none of them wanted to do, but what they had to.

"They say a wounded dragon is the fiercest of all. Don't assume that because he's now got a bad wing he'll be any less powerful," Rogue said, "If anything, now that he's on the ground, he'll able to do short-range attacks as well."

"Down there it will no doubt be very hot," Kagura said, "Take off any heavy, or hot clothing!" To illustrate her point, she took off her blazer, and rolled her sleeves off. Other's followed in similar suite, as they prepared to fight. Bacchus downed another few gulps of alcohol, Ichiya mixed a few perfumes, Hibiki did some slight research, Cana looked over her cards, as others made their own preparations for their battle. As she tightened her wristbands, Chelia looked over at Wendy, who was tying her hair back.

"I think you should stay here," she said, "You shouldn't have watch this." Everyone knew this fight would be brutal, and there was a good chance that more than few wouldn't be coming out of the pit. But that wasn't what everyone was truly dreading. They were dreading the possibility of having to slay Natsu.

"I know," Wendy answered softly, as she looked at her fellow Sky Sister, "But I have a responsibility to protect people. And as much as it pains me, if that means stopping Natsu, I'll do it." Chelia noticed she said "stop" not "kill". But what got to the Sky God Slayer, was her eyes. They were empty, and bleak.

"Can you at least promise to look away, when….?" Chelia let her words trail her away, not wanting to say those particular words.

"Don't worry," Wendy said blankly, as she let her hands fall to her side bleakly, "It will probably be Gajeel or Sting who will deliver the final blow." Chelia just stared sadly at her friend. Those words didn't belong in her mouth.

Millianna, who overheard Chelia's and Wendy's discussion, looked towards Erza. The re-quip mage was re-quipped into her Flame Empress, but shuffling through a couple separate swords.

"Erzy," she said softly, walking up to her friend. Erza didn't respond.

"Are you sure you want…"

"No," Erza answered abruptly, "I don't want to do this at all. This will be one of, if not the, hardest things I've ever done in my whole life. But my role as a knight, is to protect innocent people from potential dangers. That dragon is a danger."

"But what about Natsu?" Millianna asked.

"That creature isn't Natsu," Erza said, "Its stolen Natsu's body, and I intend to free Natsu from its chains. And if the situation calls for it, I'll be the one to inflict the fatal strike." Millianna could hear confidence in Erza's voice, but her eyes betrayed her true feelings, and one didn't needed to an expert to know how she was really feeling.

Gray stared down into the pit. Juvia walked up next to him.

"We can leave if you want to," she said. She didn't share with him how scared she was about having to fight and potentially kill Natsu. Chances were Gray knew.

"I'm going to see this out," Gray said, "We can't let this giant reptile do what it said its planning to do. The real Natsu would want us to do this."

"But how are we going to do it?" Juvia said, "That's a giant dragon. All the previous attempts in fighting dragons accomplished nothing."

"Then this time will have to be different," Gray said solemnly, "But regardless, one way or another, I don't anybody's leaving this pit with any sense of satisfaction."

Gajeel was chomping on some iron, filling up his stomach, with Pantherlily sitting next to him. Levy was standing in front of them, sorting through her writing items.

"So this is it?" the exceed commented.

"Seems like it," Gajeel answered plainly. Levy took a heavy sigh.

"What are you going to tell the Magic Council in your report?" she asked.

"Assuming we survive?"

"Don't do that to me."

"That we killed a fire dragon," Gajeel answered, "That's it."

"You aren't going to mention Natsu?" Levy asked.

"No need for Salamander's name to be tarnished like that," Gajeel said.

"Are we really doing this?" Lisanna asked her siblings.

"It seems like it," Elfman answered.

"There's another way!" Lisanna said, "There always is!" Mirajane stood up from her seat, as she transformed into her Satan Soul.

"Not this time," she said, as she wiped her tears, "We're doing this for Natsu. If he was in his right mind, he'd want us to do this."

"Everyone!" Jura said, as he banged his staff into the ground, "Its time! Now anyone who does not believe they are up to this task may now leave. No one will hold anything against them for that, seeing as we're about to kill what was once a good, nay, great man." Nobody stepped away.

"Very well!" Jura said, as he turned, and tapped his staff on the ground. A ramp appeared going down into the pit, which he skidded down. Everyone promptly followed suit.

When they got down there, they were greeted by the expanse of rubies, and while they were impressed by that, everyone otherwise ignored it. Natsu, who was lying in the pool of water, suddenly looked up to see them assembled.

"**You can't just let me be?"** he growled.

"Not when you risk others," Jura answered, before striking out his staff like a herald, "You are a danger to the innocent people of this land! You must be stopped!" Natsu let out a roar, as he stomped towards them, limping every so often from his bad limb.

"**Taste fire!" **he roared, as his chest lit up. With that, everyone charged at him.

**(in the charred woods)**

After the forest had been put out, thanks to the combined efforts of Juvia's Water Magic and Levy's Solid Script, along with Jura's Earth Magic. Lucy and Happy lay, still unconscious, in the ashes. Some light rumbling suddenly caused Lucy to stir. The reporter grunted as she slowly came to.

"What…," she muttered. Then she remembered everything that happened. Natsu had burned the forest down, but got his wing broken by Jura, after which he returned to the mountain. And that was when Lucy remembered the most important fact.

"They're going to kill him!" she cried out, looking towards the mountain. Some rumbling was felt again. The mages and the dragon were clashing.

"I've… I've got to get there," she said weakly, as she managed to rise to her feet. She picked up a still unconscious, and no doubt completely exhausted Happy, and started running towards the mountain.

**(under the mountain)**

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" The blast of dragon iron surged at Natsu, who countered with his own roar. The fire managed to overtake the iron, but in the resulting smoke, Gajeel jumped through, and slammed the side of his club into Natsu's face, causing the serpent to to be stunned.

"Ice Make: Gatling!" Gray said, as he launched a continuous stream of ice shards at Natsu. As one could expect, they didn't do much against a fire dragon, and either were melted or shattered against the scales. Natsu held up his fire infused fist, and slammed into the ground, sending a shockwave that sent the mages tumbling away.

Natsu held up his good wing, which was then cloaked in fire. He then beat it, sending a curtain of fire towards his foes.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy said, as she jumped into the fray, and released her breath attack, which dissipated the fire. Natsu followed up by lighting up his chest, but instead of going to his throat, the glow moved up to his spines on his back. The spines then lit up in fire, and then traveled down to the tip of his tail. With a lash of it, it sent a huge whip of fire at everyone, which bore through several columns in the process. Erza leapt into the air, still in her Flame Empress Armor, and slashed the fire whip in half.

"I've memorized your techniques," Rufus said, as he put his fingers to his head, "Memory Make: Sword of Frozen Black Lightning!" A stream of ice moved up to Natsu, and crackled with black electricity. However, it was easily smashed by the dragon.

"Mr. Orga!" Chelia said as she ran up to the Lighting God Slayer.

"What is it, kid?" he asked.

"I've got an idea!" Chelia said. Orga was skeptical, but he listened. Meanwhile, the mages of Mermaid Heel were working together.

"Carrot Missile!" Beth said, blasting Natsu with her carrots right at his eye. This caught the fire dragon's attention, who snapped at her, but missed.

"Araña!" Millianna said. The web mage understood, and brought her hands together.

"Cat Web!" the two said together. A web interwoven with Millianna's cat tube came into form, and it spread it over Natsu.

"Risley! Kagura!" Erza yelled. Both mages used their gravity magic on Erza, picking her up, before forcing down straight at Natsu. Erza re-quipped into her Purgatory armor, and slashed down at Natsu. However Natsu saw her coming, and reached up and grabbed her in his talons. But before he could do anything…

"Lightning Sky God's Howl!" Chelia and Orga released their combined God Slayer breath attacks, which hit Natsu's arm, causing him to drop Erza. With roar that seemed angrier than any before, Natsu brought up his clenched together fists, cloaked them in fire, and slammed them into the ground. This created an even bigger shockwave than before, which sent everyone flying. Erza and Kagura managed to regain their footing before anyone else, and they started moving towards Natsu.

"Minerva!" Erza yelled. The Sabertooth mage nodded in understand, as she held up her hands, and waved them around. The two swords-women were transported over Natsu.

"I'll help too!" Yukino said, "Open, Gate of the Scales: Libra!" The scale spirit appeared, and using her gravity magic, managed to increase the impact of Erza and Kagura's attack.

"Take this!" the yelled, as they brought their swords down simultaneously. They expected the attacks to harmlessly bounce off Natsu's scales. Instead, as they slashed down, Natsu let out a bellowing roar of pain, and tumbled back. Two gashes had appear on his back.

"What was that?" Levy said.

"How did they pierce his scales?" Eve asked. Wendy noticed something about Natsu. The glow in his eyes was dimmer, and he was breathing heavier.

"His magic power is weakening," she said.

That's it!" Sting said, "Now that is power is weakening, so is his armor!"

"Now's our chance!" Rogue said, "Bring him down!" Everyone charged Natsu, who looked up, and breathed out more of his fire.

"Juvia!" Gray called.

"Juvia's on it!" Juvia said, as she folded her arms in, and spun, creating a massive torrent of water, "Great Ripple!" She released the water in one massive burst, which managed to cancel out the flames. In the steam, everyone emerged, and jumped at Natsu.

"White Dragon's Roar!" Sting said, as he used his breath attack, in Lector's hold. It hit Natsu in the side of the neck, drawing blood, and confirming his theory.

"Shadow Dragon's Claw!" Rogue said, as he slashed across Natsu's snout, leaving a sizable gash. Natsu swatted at him, but Rogue was carried away by Frosch.

"Bacchus!" Cana yelled, "I've got a big one coming your way!"

"I'm ready for it!" Bacchus answered, holding out his palms. Cana threw a total of six cards at Bacchus, three for each palm. Two of the cards were wind, another two were water, and the remaining were shock. Bacchus leapt in the air, aiming for Natsu's glowing chest.

"Drunken Impact!" the Drunken Duo said together. They struck dead center. Natsu let out a gasp, as the fire within him was suddenly set up early. He vomited some blood, which was steaming. In his confusion, he didn't notice Mirajane, enhanced by Ren's Air magic, Hibiki's Archive, and Ichiya's perfume, charing attack.

"Hell's Heart!" Mirajane cried, as she launched the attack at Natsu's back. This knocked Natsu to the ground.

"Freezing Water Storm!" Gray and Juvia said together. A huge torrent of water, tipped with ice shafts launched at Natsu. But instead of melting or evaporating, they struck into his sides, knocking him to the ground. As he was getting up. He noticed Wendy standing before him. _Wendy_ he thought, as he tried to reach for her_ Please…_ But Chelia appeared beside her, and both were lifted up by Carla. The two girls held up their arms, which were cloaked in light blue and black wind respectively. They then grasped hands.

"Sky Dragon God's Judgement!" the Sky Sister's said, as the massive Unison Raid struck Natsu straight in the gut, sending him careening back, and coughing up blood. He was sent sprawling on the ground. Jura, all this time was meditating, preparing for his moment. That moment had come.

"Great Stone Guardian!" Jura said, as he slammed his hands into the ground. Around Natsu, a massive rock being formed, which wrapped its arms around Natsu's neck and wings, ensnaring him. Natsu let out a roar, as he spat his fire into the air, but it didn't do anything against the stone demon.

_Is this it…_ he thought, as the attacks resumed.

**(in the cave)**

Lucy ran into the cave, as she could now clearly hear the roars coming from the pit. She picked up the pace, heading towards the pit, before she tripped and fell to the ground. In a daze, and coupled with probably a high body temperature, she looked up, and saw an image of Natsu, human Natsu. He smiled at her warmly, before beginning to walk away.

"No," Lucy begged softly, reaching for him, "Please stay…" However, the image of Natsu was consumed in fire, as the image of the great dragon appeared before her instead.

Suddenly, new resolve coursed through Lucy's veins, as she rose to her feet.

"I can't give up," she said, as she picked up Happy again, and moved towards the pit.

**(in the pit)(Note: I imagined this scene as being completely silent, save for the LOTR soundtrack where Gandalf falls, I figured it would have added some drama)**

Natsu let out a roar, as he struggled against Jura's massive rock golem. Meanwhile, Lyon created a huge ice dragon, which launched forward, and bit into Natsu's throat, and pushed him back, through several columns in the process. Natsu let out another roar of pain, as he fell to the ground. In an instant, everyone was atop him, stabbing our striking at him.

Every attack in the book, Natsu was feeling. Dragon Slayer attacks, God Slayer attacks, stabbings, slashing, blunt attacks, and possibly a few new ones. And each one hurt more than the next. As the attacks came, Natsu thought about everything. _So this is how it ends?_ he thought_ And here I figured I'd be killed by Zeref or Acnologia, not by the ones who I once called my comrades. Is this what they call irony?_ Another blow was brought down, a slash under his eye that came from Elfman's claws.

Erza jumped back, wiping her tears.

"Enough!" she sobbed, "Stop torturing him! Just finish him!"

"I'm on it!" Gajeel said, as he was picked up by Pantherlily. He held up his arm, and turned into a lance. With that, Pantherlily let Gajeel drop to the ground. Wendy covered her face, not wanting to see this.

"Damn it, Salamander!" Gajeel roared in despair, as he brought his lance down towards Natsu. Natsu saw it coming, as he closed his eyes, and waited for the blow to arrive. A single tear slipped out of his eye. The single remaining bright red scale began to fade.

All the former Fairy Tail members, and some other mages, averted their eyes. All of them were crying.

"NO!" They all opened their eyes, to see Lucy running up to Natsu.

"Lucy!" several people cried at once, as Lucy dove in front of Gajeel's strike, and held her arm over Natsu's weak spot, the other arm still carrying Happy. Gajeel only stopped just in time, the tip of the lance mere centimeters from Lucy's face.

A silence fell over the cave. Natsu opened his eyes, noting how he was still alive. His eye looked back, and saw Lucy protecting him. _Lucy_ he thought. The red mark suddenly flared up again.

"If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me too!" Lucy said firmly.

"Get out of the way!" Gajeel yelled, "We've got to put him down!"

"You know that's not true!" Lucy said, as tears fell down her face, "There's always another way!"

"Why are doing this!" Gajeel demanded.

"Because I have to believe that there's still good in Natsu!" Lucy said, "Because he was, is, and always will be, my friend!" Gajeel was silent, before he slowly lowered his lance. Lucy's arms fell to her side. Natsu stared at Lucy in shock. After all he had done, after all the destruction and devastation he was responsible for, the girl still believed that he could find redemption.

"We've all faced our darkness," Lucy said, "We've all had terrible losses in our lives. But throughout all of that, who stood by our side? Who always supported us? Who saved us from the darkness? Natsu! Natsu's always stood ready to help us through our sadness and despair. But when he had to watch his father get horrifically murdered before his very eyes, while he could stand by helplessly and do nothing, where were we for Natsu?" She then clenched her fists.

"We failed as his friends, when he needed us the very most," she said slowly, "Its our fault that he fell to darkness." Everyone took in Lucy's words, no one even knowing what to say. Slowly, Wendy approached.

"Wendy!" Carla, but Wendy didn't stop. She walked right up to Natsu's eye, and looked into it, before slowly wrapping her arms around the side of his head, and began to cry.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry…" The next one to come up was Erza. She then gently lay her hand on Natsu's nose.

"I understand it all now," she said sadly, "You have all the right to be angry at us, to be angry at this world. But…" She then looked into Natsu's eyes. The dragon noticed she was crying as well.

"You're better than this," Erza said, "You're supposed to be the best of us all." Those words resonated through Natsu, as the red mark grew by another scale.

The moment was abruptly interrupted, as there was a rumbling sound.

"What's going on?" Beth asked.

"The cave is collapsing!" Jura said. It seemed all the columns Natsu had knocked over had some sort of purpose, as rocks began to fall.

"We have to get out of here!" Sting said.

"We barely have anytime to get out of the pit, let alone the mountain!" Rogue said.

"What do we do?" Chelia cried. At that moment, Natsu's eyes turned from the fiery orange, to onyx. He reached out with both his claws, grabbing about five people each. His tail then lashed out, and wrapped up another several. He then moved forward, grabbing people in his talons the process. Lucy and Wendy managed to climb onto his neck, as Lucy handed off Happy to the flying Carla. With everyone in his grip, Natsu then began to move out of the pit, and once he was out, he ignored the pain as he spread his wings, and started to flap out, heading towards the entrance he made when he first arrived. As he did, the cave began to fall apart around him, but Natsu didn't care.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried.

At that moment, Natsu exploded out of the cave into the night sky, flapping his wings desperately, as he rose into the air, the cave entrance collapsing behind him. It took a moment for everyone to realize what had happened, before they noticed they were far, far, FAR above ground.

"Natsu saved us!" Yukino said. Indeed, the one they had just been trying to kill, had saved them. Lucy looked at Natsu's head, tears of joy in her eyes.

"I know you were still in there somewhere," she said softly. Suddenly, she began to feel the air rushing in the opposite direction, as she found herself having to grip onto Natsu. They were falling.

"What's going on!" Wendy cried.

"Natsu's passed out!" Erza said.

**Note: A couple of people vocalized some concerns about how everyone was giving up on Natsu, but be sure to remember that Natsu had just tried to kill them all, and he was trying to burn the entire forest down in order to do that; not to mention, he vocalized his intention to consume the world in fire. For them, Natsu was lost, and they felt they have to kill him in order protect Fiore, and in what they believe to be a mercy kill. Funny story, I actually considered having Natsu burn down Egora, but then I figured if he did that, he would completely cross the moral event horizon, and would be fully beyond redemption.**

**I hope this battle was good, I figured Natsu wouldn't call his attacks, since, for the most part, none of the dragons we've seen have really called any of their attacks. And don't worry about the lack of potential talks with Natsu and the others. I'm saving those for later.**


	11. Fairy Tail and the Dragon

_**Fairy Tail and the Dragon**_

"Natsu!" Lucy cried. They had managed to escape the collapsing cavern, with the assistance of Natsu, who they just made an attempt to kill. But now, Natsu had passed out from the pain, considering a combination of a broken wing, and a multitude of wounds, some of them quite serious.

Everyone was screaming as they plummeted to the ground, desperately clinging to the dragon that had been carrying them. Nobody knew what to do, since not only could they barely think while falling to their doom, but none of them and the proper magic to save everyone.

"Natsu!" Wendy cried, as she tried to climb towards his head, "You've got to wake up!"

"Come on, Flame Brain!" Gray said, as he tried freezing one of Natsu's toes, though the natural body temperature of the dragon melted it quickly. Erza tried the same, stabbing Natsu in the thumb with one of her smaller swords, just enough to try and spur him.

"Damn it!" Erza cried, "Of all the times for you to act like a dragon, now's the time!" Despite all of this, Natsu remained unconscious.

Eventually, Lucy tried to do the same thing Wendy was, which was trying to move up to Natsu's head. Those two were fortunate enough to be holding onto Natsu's neck when he took off. They managed to get up to Natsu's face, where his closed eyes were.

During this time, they were getting progressively closer to the ground. Probably very soon, they would be stains on the ground. Though Natsu would probably still be intact (which was more than they could say for anyone else), but with all those injuries, he probably wouldn't survive.

"Come on, Natsu!" Lucy said, once she managed to get up to Natsu's eye. She then tried pulling up an eyelid, which actually managed to work. She saw Natsu's blank eye, which she looked at.

"Wake up!" she cried, and she even tried slapping the eye slightly. Wendy did the same, but Natsu remained unconscious. Lucy's mind ran rapidly, until finally an idea came to her.

"I'm sorry!" she moaned, before kicking down, "Lucy Kick!" She then kicked Natsu straight in the eye. A growl resonated, as Natsu let out a breath, as his eyes opened slightly, before opening fully.

With a roar, he turned around, and opened his wings. He didn't regain elevation, but he leveled out, and swooped down towards the lake. Everyone in Egora watched in awe as the great serpent flew over them. He skidded across the water, before making a huge splash as he landed in it, sending everyone into it.

Lucy let out a gasp she rose to the surface, as Wendy did the same next to her.

"Is everyone okay?" Erza called as she rose to the surface. Everyone managed to sound out, before they started swimming to the shore.

Lucy tried to rise to her feet in the shallow water, only to collapse again. Wendy helped her up, and back towards the shore. Everyone was sprawled on the shore, completely sapped for energy. Their attention was suddenly attracted by a huge wave, as Natsu slowly dragged himself out of the water, before with a gasp, he sprawled onto the shore, unconscious again.

"Natsu saved us," Lisanna said weakly, as she looked at him.

"You talk as if that's unnatural," Erza said with a chuckle, though she was completely exhausted as well.

"What… do we do… now?" Millianna gasped out.

"We rest," Jura, the only one still on his feet, "I'd say we've all earned it." He then looked at Natsu.

"Especially him." Lucy looked up, and saw the sun beginning to rise up. She couldn't help but smile at that, before she closed her eyes, and she slept.

**(later in the day)**

Lucy eventually woke up from her nap, and after looking around, figured it was probably the afternoon. A lot of the others were still resting, and Natsu was resting as well. But she noticed that Wendy was awake as well, and she was sitting beside Natsu, staring up at him. Lucy went up to her.

"You should be resting," she said.

"Just because I'm not sleeping doesn't mean I'm not resting," Wendy answered with a smile.

"I told you Natsu wasn't all bad!" Happy said as he fluttered up, smiling.

"I'll never doubt you again," Lucy answered with a smile, as she caught Happy, and stroked him. Wendy smiled as well, before it faded, and she looked up at Natsu.

"I thought about it," she said.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"When Natsu was burning down the forest, he offered me to join him, in making a world of fire, a world without guilds, a world he would rule," Wendy explained, "I would become his apprentice, probably for all intents and purposes his heir, and he would help me become a dragon myself. For an instant, I thought about agreeing to it." She stared at the ground, before looking back at Natsu.

"Maybe it was the idea of being with Natsu again," Wendy continued, "I don't know, but for a time, the idea did sound good." She then grabbed at her shoulder, where her Lamia Scale mark was.

"After Fairy Tail was gone, I think it was Natsu who I missed the most," she said. Lucy put a hand on Wendy's shoulder.

"That wasn't Natsu talking," she said, "It was the monster. If you joined Natsu, you would become a monster like that."

"Natsu was never a monster," Happy piped up.

"Happy, he destroyed entire…"

"He didn't kill that many people!" Happy protested, "He just destroyed the guild halls, and he left the rest of the town alone!"

"That doesn't make what he did right," Lucy answered with a frown, "The real Natsu would never truly do anything like that." Happy was silent, as he looked down.

"I saw steam coming out of his eyes once," he said, "I thought they were tears."

"Maybe they were," Lucy said, looking back at Natsu, "Maybe they were." She then tightened her hold on Wendy's shoulder, and brought her close. If Natsu was Wendy's older brother, than Lucy was the girl's older sister.

Overtime, the others also woke up, and noticed the unconscious dragon lying on the beach. There was a discussion about what needed to be done.

"We can't kill him, that much is obvious," Erza said. Everyone agreed with that, even Gajeel.

"Then what do we do with him?" Hibiki asked, "I don't think his cave's any good anymore."

"Maybe turn him over to the Magic Council?" Millianna asked.

"The Magic Council will turn him into a tool," Jura said, "My voice holds only so much sway."

"There's only one option," Lucy said, "We let him free." Not everyone agreed on that.

"What's stopping him from being consumed by his anger again?" Sting asked, "Despair is a dangerous force."

"Natsu saved us, didn't he?" Wendy asked, "I think he may have more humanity left that we thought. If he was truly consumed by evil, he would have left us to die while he escaped."

"And this time, everyone needs to be there for him," Lucy said, "The reason he fell to his despair, was we weren't there then to help him."

"I agree with Lucy!" Erza spoke up, "We need to make up for lost time, and that means helping him through his despair, and maybe, just maybe, return him to his true state."

"I know the way to help start," Wendy said as she walked over to Natsu's wing, before holding up her wings, and activating her healing magic.

"You're healing him?" Chelia asked in surprise. Wendy just nodded with a smile.

"He saved our lives, probably multiple times now," she said, "We owe him a lot."

"Then I'm helping you!" Chelia said, as she walked up, and started healing Natsu as well. A lot of people weren't happy with the apparent decision, but they didn't protest as the girls did their healing.

**(that evening)**

The healing process was taking some time, with Chelia and Wendy taking occasional breaks to rest, as everyone just stared at Natsu. None of wounds were fatal, and they would probably heal in due time, so the Sky Sisters were focusing on Natsu's wing, figuring that a grounded dragon probably was the equivalent to a crippled person.

Eventually night fell, as the girls started working into the night.

"You guys need to take a break," Lyon said, "He'll probably still be here in the morning." Chelia agreed, but Wendy took some persuasion before she finally agreed to go to sleep.

Sometime later, while everyone was fast asleep, Natsu stirred, as his eyes opened. He then weakly rose to his feet, as he looked around. He wasn't in his cave. _What happened?_ he thought_ Oh yeah.._ Natsu looked at his wing, and flexed it. It was healed _Wendy…_

Natsu looked over, and saw all the mages who had tried to kill him sleeping by his feet. On one end, a voice was screaming in his head to kill them, and move on. But another voice was screaming something different.

"_**You're stronger than ever before!"**_the first voice said. Natsu realized that it was Smaug's voice, the first he heard from him in a while.

"_**You don't need any of them! Just burn them and be done with it!"**_

"_No!" _a smaller, more familiar voice cried_, "This isn't you! You're Natsu Dragneel, Salamander of Fairy Tail, the son of Igneel!"_ Natsu listened to both voices, as he narrowed his eyes at the humans before him. He then looked at the night sky, and made his decision.

"Natsu?" The dragon looked over, and saw Wendy slowly getting up. Soon, several people also stirred, and saw the great beast looming over them. There was a silence, until Gray finally spoke up.

"So, what now?" he asked. Natsu just stared at him before closing his eyes briefly, and looking into the sky.

"**I've got a lot to atone for,"** he answered. With that, he opened his wings, and flapped away. It didn't take long for Lucy to make a decision of her own.

"I'm going after him!" she declared, as she ran after him.

"Aye!" Happy said, as he flew after her.

"Well, if that Flame Brain is going to get himself into trouble, I've got an obligation," Gray said with a sigh.

"And if Gray has an obligation, Juvia does as well!" Juvia said. Those two then followed Lucy. Initially, no one else followed them.

"Captain Redfox! Officer McGarden! Officer Pantherlily" Jura said. The three council members looked over at Jura, who was smiling.

"I believe the report stands that the dragon was driven off to unknown parts, and is no longer considered a threat," he said, "With that, I hereby thank you for your services, and by my authority, honorably discharge you from the Magic Council!"

"But…," Levy asked in surprise. She hadn't be expecting that.

"I now where your hearts lie," Jura said, "Go!" Levy and Gajeel looked at each other.

"Eh!" Gajeel said with a wave his hand, "Working for Council is boring anyway! Come on shrimp! Come on Lily!" He then started running in the same direction of Lucy, with Levy and Pantherlily following.

"Men!" Ichiya said, "The parfume of separation is one of the most dreary!"

"What does that mean?" Lisanna said.

"You know what it means," Ichiya said with a smile. The Strauss sisters looked at the Blue Pegasus members, who all smiled at them.

"Thank you for everything!" they sounded, before they started running as well.

"All this friendship stuff is getting my spirit trembling," Bacchus said, before looking towards Cana and Elfman, "Something tells me that Natsu is going to prove quite wild!"

"A real man doesn't just walk away from his guild!" Elfman said.

"Exactly," Bacchus said. Elfman paused, before he nodded in understanding.

"See you at Magnolia?" Bacchus asked Cana. The drunk just smiled back.

"I know a good bar," she said. With that, they also joined the chase. Erza looked to her guild mates at Mermaid Heel.

"You know what I have to do," she said. Millianna ran up and hugged Erza.

"Stay in touch, Erzy!" she said.

"Don't be a stranger," Risley said.

"And if you ever have some free time, knock on the door," Beth said. Araña nodded in agreement. Erza looked at Kagura, who tried to hold her deadpan expression, but quickly shot a look at Erza.

"You're still here, big sister?" she asked, blushing lightly. Erza briefly hugged Millianna again, before she turned and ran.

That just left Wendy, who looked at Lamia Scale.

"Don't act like that," Lyon said, "We all know where you really belong."

"But it will be really sad with you gone!" Toby lamented, "The Sky Sisters were so great.

"But…," Wendy said, staring at the ground. Chelia walked up to Wendy, and put a hand her shoulder, smiling.

"Even if we're in different guilds, we'll still be friends," she said, "Everyone wants Fairy Tail to get back together, and you've got to start somewhere, right?" Wendy teared up slightly, before bowing slightly.

"Thank you for everything!"

"I second that!" Carla vocalized, as she tossed her hair lightly, "But something tells me we'll see each other again soon!" With that, the two ran in the same direction as the others, leaving the beach absent a few members.

"And to think, for a moment I thought Fairy Tail was really gone," Ren commented.

"Come on," Lyon said, "No one in their right mind would think that!"

**(at the edge of the forest)**

Everyone chased after Natsu, as he flew away in the distance. At that moment, the guild marks that had either been erased, or changed, lit back to life on the mage's bodies. And on Natsu's shoulder, the red blotch grew, and took form. The Fairy Tail mark had returned.

With that, the Fairy Tail members, and the dragon, began their next adventure….

_**To be continued**_

**Note: No, this isn't the ending of the story, but I will be taking a break from it to work on other ones, and so that I can get an idea as to where to take this from here. This could go any number of directions actually. But I hope this ending was enjoyable.**

**It should be noted that I recently got one of the more frustrating reviews. I've got no problem with negative reviews, but what I do have a problem with is people telling me what to write my story because it didn't meet their standards. (which is why I generally don't do requests, or SYOC stories). This review was more a reader vocalizing his displeasure that Natsu didn't do something like abandon the people in the cave, or kill them in the moment of hesitation (apparently being a mass-murdering psychopath); apparently he wanted it one specific way, and was angry that I didn't make it like that, he vocalized the same issues in EOTBD. I'm going to say that I never have, and never will, write a story where Natsu is truly pure evil. The theme of all my FT stories, is that there is always a chance for atonement, for redemption.**


	12. The Meaning of the Mark

_**The Meaning of the Mark**_

Turns out that simply running after a flying dragon was not sufficient. They had all been chasing Natsu (in what was, in hindsight, a pretty epic exit) for some time now, and while Natsu was showing no signs of slowing down, the mages were now all rather exhausted, and had to pause to catch their breath.

"Damn it!" Cana vocalized, "How long can he fly?"

"He once went a whole day without stopping," Happy answered, also tired.

"At the rate he's going," Erza gasped, "we'll lose him."

"I wouldn't count on that," Wendy said, "Even though I managed to heal him, Natsu's wing is not in top shape yet. He probably won't be able to go much farther."

"Why are we waiting!" Lucy demanded, "We can't let him get away!"

"We can't run forever either," Gray said, "Catching Natsu isn't going to be as easy as…. ah crap!"

"What?" Juvia asked.

"I completely forgot about Avatar!" Gray said, "They're still out there!"

"Crap, that's right," Gajeel said, "And now that Lily, the shrimp, and I aren't part of the Council we can't arrest them."

"That's right," Gray said, "We obviously can't let them go. If we keep going this…. direction…"

"What is it?" Mirajane asked.

"I remember," he said, "This is the same direction as Avatar's camp."

"So we've been following Natsu to Avatar?" Carla (still in her human form) asked.

"That can't be….," Lucy didn't finish as there was a large roar in the distance. Everyone looked in that direction. A huge plume of smoke appeared.

"I take it Natsu found them?" Elfman said.

"I'd say so."

The group moved to where the smoke was coming, and found what was once the Avatar camp now a field of ashes.

"He works fast," Lisanna noted. Lucy looked over the wreckage and cringed. There were more than a couple burnt skeletons dotting the area.

"This isn't Natsu," she said, "He wouldn't do this."

"Why do you think we're following him?" Erza asked, "We need to snap him out of this state." Speaking of which, they heard a breathing sound, and they all saw a large cliff face, which Cana mentioning how it was weird that they missed it, there was also a small lake. Coiled up on a ledge was Natsu, snoozing.

"Natsu!" Wendy called happily. The dragon stirred and opened an eye. With a hiss, Natsu climbed up higher, and found a new ledge to rest on, which he did.

"Now that's being immature, if he were a man he'd face us," Elfman said.

"Not now, Elfman," Mirajane scolded.

"Take me up there, Happy!" Lucy instructed. The cat started to do as he was told.

"Wait!" Erza said, "Not yet. Let's give Natsu some space for now."

"And take a break," Levy said, still panting.

**(that evening)**

"What about now?" Lucy asked.

"Not yet," Erza said.

"Why not?" Lucy demanded, "We can't wait for him to talk to us!"

"Natsu hasn't left that spot. He's probably fast asleep by now." Erza then looked over her once again guild mates, and smiled.

"What's the smile about?" Gajeel asked.

"Just feels good, everyone together again," Erza said.

"Yeah, it does," Mirajane said, also smiling.

"Blue Pegasus was nice and all, but all we really did was be hosts for the customers," Lisanna said, "It was kind of uncomfortable."

"And honestly those Sky Sister performances were embarrassing," Wendy said.

"All I did in the Magic Council was file paperwork," Levy said, "It was so boring." Everyone started exchanging stories about their time in different groups, but the overall point was that none of them could match Fairy Tail. Wendy looked at her guild mark, which had went from the Lamia Scale mark, back to the Fairy Tail mark. She ran her hand over that mark. Truthfully, the former mark never truly felt right on her shoulder.

"If I had a mug, I'd raise a toast," Cana said, "But nonetheless, to Fairy Tail!"

"To Fairy Tail!" everyone echoed. But there was one who wasn't. That one was Happy. He was sitting, staring up at the cliff where Natsu was sleeping. Carla walked over to him, and sat beside him.

"You should stay in your human form more," she said, "Get some fighting practice, maybe?" Happy was silent, as he just stared up. Carla sighed.

"You know for what its worth I really admire the way you stuck with Natsu the way you did," she said.

"I had to," Happy finally said, "I was all he had." Carla smiled, and put a hand on his head.

"You know I make fun of you," she said, "But you're tougher than you give yourself credit for." She was hoping that would make Happy smile, but it didn't. He just continued to stare at Natsu. Carla looked up as well, at the sleeping dragon, as the Exceeds stared at their guild mate.

Eventually night fell, and everyone fell asleep. It was then that Natsu woke up. He looked over his sleeping guild mates, and flexed his wing slightly. It was still sore, but was perfectly usable. As he was, he noticed the Fairy Tail mark on his shoulder. After becoming a dragon, Natsu hadn't paid it much attention. But he couldn't help but notice that it had been steadily fading over the past year, but now it had completely returned.

He then looked down the sleeping mages. Natsu narrowed his eyes at them. Why were they following him? Were they trying to make amends? Well, it wouldn't be as easy as they may have thought it was.

Natsu was tempted to just soar away in the night, and leave them all behind. One advantage of flying, he could go anywhere he wanted, where as people had to find routes they could make. All Natsu had to do was flap a few times, and he would be far, far away by the time they all woke up. But that wasn't what he was going to do.

Much to the contrary, Natsu wanted to confront each one of them. Make sure they understood what they did to him. There were a couple in particular he wanted to "talk" too.

Natsu then glanced down at the ashes that were left over from the Avatar camp. By the time they knew what was happening, they were already on fire. Natsu had not a shred of sympathy for them; he could sense the darkness within them. If he didn't destroy them, they wouldn't stop. That was another ability that his dragon characteristics gave him, being able to read the aura of people. Perhaps that was how Igneel selected him?

When Natsu had said that he had a lot to atone for, that meant making up for what he did, not undoing it. He was a Fire Drake, he didn't build, he destroyed. The best Natsu could do was destroy other dark organizations, to make up for the guilds that he had destroyed. He would probably have to remove the domination he had over those people, but that could be done later. That just left Acnologia.

Natsu couldn't think about that now. It was not going to happen soon, too much had to happen. He then glanced down at his "guild mates" and let out a hiss, before nestling down. He needed more sleep.

**Note: In my opinion, in terms of quality, this is my strongest story. It might not be on the scale of the "Dragon's Eye" stories or "Fellowship of Flames", but there's still something about the feeling of betrayal that makes it really interesting to write. I also enjoy this concept, where Natsu hears about the guild disbandment earlier, and he doesn't just go leave to train. I've only ever seen another couple, and I really urge people to write more. Trust me, its definitely worth it, and is tons of fun to write.**

**A couple reviewers raised some concern about Natsu being weak. Well, I could go on a tangent giving an explanation, but I think the better explanation is simple: rule of drama, which is to say "conflict is necessary". The emotional and visual pain this would bring the characters surpassed any level of realism that may have existed.**

**Be sure to review.**


	13. A Failed Conversation with Natsu

_**A Failed Conversation with Natsu**_

When Natsu woke up, he looked around. The sun was only just starting to rise. He reared up towards the sky and closed his eyes; he had to do something. They then flared open, glowing a bright red.

Contrary to what some may have thought, Natsu hadn't spent the year just eating and sleeping. He had been training, studying his newfound dragon abilities. One thing he had discovered was a power to create creatures of fire he called "newts". It was similar to that egg laying dragon from the Eclipse battle, though these creatures had no will of their own. They resembled bipedal lizards made out of fire, and it was through them that Natsu was intending on controlling his kingdom. In every town he had conquered, he left exactly six newts. One additional ability he had with them was he could at any given time see through them. That would allow him to monitor his empire from wherever he was.

Looking through the eyes of one his newts, he looked over one of the places he had taken over. It was still early, so most people were still asleep, but there were a few of them still there. They were treading very lightly around the fire creatures. Guiding the newt, Natsu went to where the town's guild once was, where there was a large structure being built. On the structure was the symbol of a rearing dragon, cloaked in fire.

His attention was suddenly caught as he sensed a presence. Standing in front of him was Wendy, and a human Carla. He then reared up, to look down on them.

"**What?"** he demanded.

"I just…," Wendy began.

"**Go away,"** Natsu said, as he lay his head back down. Now that stung Wendy, quite a bit. She looked down at the ground, tears gathering in her eyes.

"How dare you!" Carla snapped. Natsu glanced over at her.

"**You've got the same power as Happy,"** he noted**, "I didn't like it when Happy did it. I don't like it with you either."**

"Wendy mended your wing!" the catgirl shouted, ignoring the dragon's comments, "She could've just left you alone!"

"**She already did,"** Natsu answered**, "She didn't seem to have a problem then."**

"Wendy had to make a living for herself somehow," Carla responded, "With Fairy Tail gone, what else was….."

"No!" Wendy said, silencing her friend. Natsu glanced at her.

"He's right," she said slowly, not looking up, "I did leave him. He was there for me when I faced my pain. But when he had to face his pain, I wasn't there for him. I was too focused on what I was going to do to think about him." Wendy then wiped her tears as she looked up at Natsu.

"But I truly am sorry!" she said, "I want to make up for it!" Natsu glanced down at her, narrowing his eyes.

"**You can start, by going away,"** he said. Wendy let out a sniffle as she was picked up by Carla, who glared at Natsu, and taken away. Natsu couldn't help but watch in silence, as he ran his tongue over his teeth. He then opened his wings, and flapped away.

**(later)**

"You did what?" Erza asked.

"I just wanted to see what he'd do," Wendy said softly.

"He could've killed you," Erza said.

"No! He wouldn't!" Happy snapped, in his human form, "Natsu wouldn't hurt anyone here!"

"He seemed perfectly fine doing at in the mountain," Gray said.

"That's because you provoked him!" Happy said.

"That shouldn't justify what he did, though, right?" Mirajane asked, "I mean, he hurt people, didn't he?" Happy paused for a time.

"Yes, but…."

"Hurting innocent people inexcusable, no matter who does it," Gajeel said, "If I could I'd arrest him."

"I'm with Gajeel," Levy admitted, "I understand that Natsu was hurt, but that doesn't mean what he did as alright."

"Shut up! All of you!" Lucy snapped, gaining everyone's attention, "Listen to yourselves! You're talking like everything is Natsu's fault, but have you already forgotten what I said in the mountain? Happy's right, we forsook him when he needed us the most, expected him to be able to easily move on from the only home he has ever known, and chose not to ever try and reach out to him; top that all off with how quickly we all lost faith and tried to kill him, Natsu's feelings are pretty damn justified. If anything, this is all our fault." Everyone took that in, and averted their eyes. Erza took a breath.

"What do you propose we do then?" she asked.

"We confront him, one at a time," Lucy answered, "If anything, maybe we can start off with getting Natsu to lash out at us. Maybe if he gets all his anger out, he can think straight."

"Getting his anger out may entail burning down the landscape," Gray mentioned.

"I don't see you coming up with a better idea," Lucy said, glaring at him. Gray frowned, but didn't say anything. They saw a shadow pass over them, as Natsu returned to the cliff, he was carrying some kind of mountain troll in his talons.

"That's his dinner, I imagine?" Carla asked.

"Aye," Happy answered.

"I'll go first," Lucy said, as she started to walk over.

"No," Lisanna said, "I'll go first. Natsu and I go way back, maybe I can bring up some good memories." She then paused.

"Though that might just make him angrier at me," she said. Not giving anytime for protests, Lisanna's arms turned to wings, and she flapped up to Natsu's cliff.

"Don't worry!" Happy said to Mirajane and Elfman, "Natsu wouldn't hurt her." However, he was honestly not so sure himself.

**(on the cliff)**

When Lisanna landed on the cliff, Natsu glanced over at her.

"Hey, Natsu!" Lisanna said, smiling big, "How you doing?"

"**Piss off,"** Natsu answered, as he looked back off into the distance. The insult bounced right off Lisanna, as she continued to smile.

"Well, I'm doing good," she said, "Good to be back with everyone again. How's being a dragon treating you? Is being able to fly like that as awesome as it looks? I mean, my Take Over allows me to flap around, but I don't think I can fly like you can."

"**You going deaf or something? I told you to piss off."**

"Well, I'm not leaving," Lisanna answered. Natsu turned towards her, his chest lighting up.

"Don't bother," Lisanna said, "If you wanted to kill me, or any other one of our guild mates, you'd have just left us in the mountain when it collapsed." Steam leaked from the corner of Natsu's mouth, as he glared at her.

"So tell, me what's it like being a dragon?" Lisanna asked, as she sat down crosslegged.

"**What do you care?"** Natsu answered.

"Because I imagine its pretty cool," Lisanna said, "I want to know what its like."

"**As if you'd understand,"** Natsu said.

"Well, try me. You could always talk to me before?"

"'**Before' is pretty important there,"** Natsu answered**, "Things aren't the way they used to be."**

"I understand," Lisanna answered, "Things will never be the same. But we that doesn't mean we can't make things better. We can find a way for everyone to be together again."

"**Oh, so I'm just supposed to forget everything that happened during the year?"**

"Well, no…"

"**You wounded me. I guess that deserves some credit, seeing as it isn't easy."**

"We weren't trying to hurt you!"

"**Well, you did,"** Natsu said.

"What do you want from us?" Lisanna demanded. Natsu was silent for a time as he stared at her, before averting his eyes.

"**Are you trying to make me mad?" **

"No, I'm just trying to be friendly."

"**Well you're failing pretty miserably," **Natsu responded**, "I'm pretty tempted to just scorch you here and now, and get it over with."**

"Alright then, then why did you save us back in that mountain?" Lisanna inquired, folding her arms, "Why didn't you just escape on your own, and leave us to be buried alive?" Natsu opened his mouth, but paused, as he pondered the question. Why did he save them all back there? He could've just left them there to die.

"**None of your business,"** Natsu said.

"Not good enough," Lisanna said, "You saved our lives in that cave, despite everything you said we did to you. That's what our Natsu would do, and yet you stress that that man's gone. You know what I think? I think that there is a lot more of our Natsu left in this serpent. You just can't admit it to yourself." For a time there was nothing but the wind, as the dragon and the mage stared at each other. Natsu's tail flicked slightly. He left a couple of gashes across the rock. Since he wasn't talking, Lisanna decided to go on.

"I'm not going to pretend to understand what you were going through when Fairy Tail disbanded," she said, "But I just want you to understand that we're all sorry."

"**I don't want your sorries at this point,"** Natsu said**, "Now go away, I'm going to find some food."** At this point, Lisanna didn't try to protest. She just took a breath, summoned up a pair of bird wings, and flapped away. Meanwhile, Natsu opened his own wings, and soared away.

**(below)**

"Well, there he goes," Gajeel said, as he and the others watched Natsu fly away.

"Well then let's go!" Lucy said, as she started to run after him.

"What'd you say to him?" Happy said, glaring accusingly at Lisanna as she landed.

"He's jut going hunting," Lisanna said.

"And you believed that?" Lucy said, running in place.

"If he wanted to fly away and leave us, wouldn't he had done it already?" Juvia offered.

"Unless Lisanna pissed him off enough," Happy said, still glaring at his foster mother.

"Come on Happy, there's nothing I could really say that could piss Natsu off that much," Lisanna said, before pausing, "Right?"

**Note: Dragons in **_**Fairy Tail**_** are indicated to not just be giant death breathing reptiles, and are apparently able to use wider ranges of magic. So I decided to give Natsu an additional ability, that could tie into his powers and (former) plans. This chapter was hard to formulate, since I'm not entirely sure where to take this story at this point.**

**On a side note, if anyone is a good artist (unlike me, who can't draw for crap), they're free to go ahead and try to adapt this story. If so, I'd gladly submit a story for a trade.**

**On another side note, I'm considering writing a chapter that's basically a "what if" of Natsu potentially crossing the moral event horizon as a dragon. It would only be one or two chapters, and that would be it. Basically asking the question of where would it go? And would that many people even want to see that?**

**And in response to a Guest reviewer named "Derubamesh" again talking about how Natsu was weak as a dragon, and offered an alternative concept, where Natsu defeats everyone, but is impacted by it. The problem, was that was not emotionally impactful enough for Natsu. Lucy saving him, even after all he did, was much more, and even with that, Natsu planned on destroying the world, and did not have any problem trying to kill them earlier. At that point, he may have actually killed them if he had the chance, so yeah, I couldn't do what suggested. Besides, at this point, its beating a dead horse, I'm not going back and changing anything anyway; I'm happy the way it is, and it would mean rewriting a lot, which no one can or should ask me to do.**

**Be sure to review.**

**In a response to another Guest reviewer, who brought up the issue that it seemed like Natsu seeming like he did not have anything atone for anything, and Fairy Tail not having to for anything either. While that's understandable, its not the case, not by a long shot. First of all, Natsu did more than just break some buildings, he did actually hurt people. Quite a few as a matter of fact; he even killed some. Happy didn't say that he didn't kill anyone, he said Natsu didn't kill that many, and that's Happy trying to filter out the fact that Natsu did in fact do wrong; in other words, our Dragon Slayer-turned-dragon killed more than a few people in his crusade. And Natsu didn't just destroy guild buildings, he forced the guilds to serve him, and essentially to disband, under threat of death. And don't forget, he was pretty set on destroying the world, because he was so angry at it. As far as Natsu's concerned, that's something he has to atone for, and he does.**

**As for Fairy Tail, they **_**do**_** have a lot to atone for, but they may not fully realize it yet. They did abandon Natsu, and they realize it, but they don't yet know the level to which they hurt Natsu.**


	14. Alternate Take World on Fire

**Note: This is the alternative chapter I said I was going to do last chapter, where Natsu actually crosses the moral event horizon, and attacks Egora. There are of course going to be some changes, such as all the guilds being down in the town, instead of at the foot of the mountain. Also, the Thunder God Tribe is going to be there now, considering they joined Blue Pegasus after Fairy Tail disband (I still find that incredibly weird). This isn't going to be much, just a quick "what if". This picks up right after Natsu ended his talk with Lucy in his lair. There will be character death in this.**

_**World on Fire**_

_Always with you… always with you… always with you…_

Natsu's eyes suddenly turned to slits, as he reared up, and let out a bellowing roar that knocked Lucy and a great many rubies away.

"**You weren't with me then!"** he roared**, "You left me alone in my sorrow! You and everyone else turned away from me!" **He then stormed over Lucy towards the shaft.

"**I don't need you! I don't need anyone!"** With that, he started climbing out of the shaft, as Lucy looked on in horror. She then began to cry

"Natsu…," she whispered, as she got to her knees, covered her face, and sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

**(outside)**

With a bellowing roar, Natsu erupted out of the mountain, beating his wings and he launched himself into the air. _They abandon me…. They forget about me…. They invade my home… and now they think they can just say sorry, and it will be all better?_ he thought. It was then the fire dragon made a decision. All of his former friends had to taste what he had become, just how powerful he now was. They had to truly know the fury of dragon fire.

"**I am fire! I am… death!"** Natsu rumbled, as he soared towards Egora.

**(in town)**

Everyone had heard it when Natsu had exploded from the mountain. They all knew what that meant. At this point, all they could do at this point, was try and evacuate the town. However, the townspeople also knew what that meant, and they were a lot less collected. Actually, they were panicking, trying to grab anything they could, and row out into the lake.

"Please, remain calm!" Levy said, "Head towards the docks, and go into the open water!" She was hoping her status as part of the Magic Council could elicit some command. It didn't. It also didn't help that Gajeel and Pantherlily weren't doing squat to help. They were both standing at the ready for when Natsu arrived.

"What happened to Lucy?" Mirajane asked, looking over at the mountain.

"You don't think Natsu could've killed her, do you?" Freed asked.

"Not a chance!" Bixlow said, "Natsu wouldn't do that to the Cosplay Girl!"

"Not a chance! Not a chance!" his puppets echoed. However, that wasn't particularly encouraging, especially with the knowledge that a very large, and very angry dragon was coming their direction.

All of a sudden, a hot wind tore through the city. Wendy, who was helping with the evacuation, after pushing her hair out of her face, looked towards the sky.

"Where's this coming from?" Toby asked.

"Its the first thing to herald the arrival of a dragon," Wendy answered softly, "A great wind tearing through the area."

"Then we need to pick up the pace!" Lyon said, "Come on!"

Meanwhile, Erza had leapt to the roof, and looked into the sky. A serpentine shadow suddenly moved through the clouds. The re-quip mage clenched her teeth. He was getting closer.

"Erzy!" Millianna called, "What're you doing? We got to get out of here!"

"Help the evacuation!" Erza answered, "I've got to be ready when he gets here!" Laxus suddenly appeared next to her, looking towards the sky as well.

"Can we take him?" he asked. Erza shot a glare at him.

"I don't like it either," Laxus said, "Actually, I hate it with every fiber of my being, but this might have to happen. So answer the question." Erza took a breath, as she looked back to the sky. The wind had become hotter.

"I don't think we can," she answered, "The only one to lay a scratch on any of the dragons during the Eclipse fiasco was Natsu."

"We've got five Dragon Slayers here," Laxus said, "And there's only one dragon."

"We had four to one on Tenrou," Erza said.

"Natsu isn't Acnologia," Laxus said, before glaring at the sky, as another shadow darted across the sky, "At least I hope not."

Wendy was trying to mentally prepare herself for this. She was having very little luck.

"Don't worry," Chelia said, grabbing her Sky Sister's shoulder, "It'll be fine!"

"No it won't," Wendy said, as she stared at the moon. A familiar silhouette soared over it. This time, everyone took notice to it. The townspeople began to panic even more, as they began pushing towards the docks.

"A little help Gajeel!" Levy snapped. The Captain of the Custody Division ignored her, as he stared at the sky. Levy cringed. If they didn't get moving soon, then there was no telling who many people would die before Natsu was satisfied.

"Maybe we should leave town," Cana said to Elfman, "If we're gone then maybe…"

"DRAGON!" It was at that exact moment, that with a massive "whoosh" Natsu swooped over the town, roaring as he did, much to everyone's horror. Then he spoke.

"**This is where I stand! And I stand alone!"** Natsu roared as he flapped back up, before folding his wings in**, "And you will not stand in my way! Now taste my power! Taste my vengeance!" **The fire dragon then dove down towards the town, as his chest lit up.

Like water, fire cascading from Natsu's jaws, as he passed over Egora. Entire houses vanished in the inferno, as people leapt out of the way from the dragon fire. After completing the pass, Natsu flapped back up. Wendy looked up and at the chaos, as the horror truly fell upon her. In a single instant, Natsu had set an entire portion of the town ablaze. And he wasn't done yet…

Performing his second pass, Natsu breathed another torrent of fire, consuming even more of Egora in the blaze. The people all screamed and scattered, some even diving into the water in desperate attempts to escape the dragon's fury.

"Natsu!" Wendy cried, but he didn't hear her. Instead, the Dragon Slayer turned dragon just continued to breathe fire over the town.

As Natsu soared over them, Erza was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, keeping an eye on her former guild mate. Unfortunately for her, Natsu took notice of her as he veered from his initial course. He then dove down in her direction, baring his teeth. Erza looked over her shoulder, seeing the fire dragon quickly gaining on her. Natsu flared his wings back, as he reached out with his talons. Erza dove out of the way just in time as Natsu's talons ripped apart the house she had previously been standing on. The knight managed to land another house, as she looked up, and saw Natsu burning more of the town.

Gajeel leapt to a roof, and as Natsu was beginning another pass. He then inhaled as the dragon approached him.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel said. The stream of dragon iron shot at Natsu, an attack he actually felt. He looked towards Gajeel, and dove towards him. Pantherlily then flew in, and pulled Gajeel away before Natsu could incinerate the both of them.

"Damn it!" Gajeel said as he watched Natsu let out another stream of fire. At the same time, Gray was trying to get more people out of harm's way.

"Juvia!" Gray called, "Can you douse some of this fire?"

"Juvia can try!" Juvia said, as she held up her hands. Streams of water shot from her hands, and started to douse the flames. However, there was far too much fire to make Juvia's efforts worth it, especially considering that for every fire she doused, Natsu lit another several dozen. Gray glared up at the fire dragon, as he soared over them. He then assumed his Devil Slayer form, and brought his hands together.

"Ice Devil's Rage!" Gray roared, as he released a massive stream of ice from his mouth at Natsu. Unfortunately, even demon ice couldn't stand up to dragon fire, as Natsu passed over, melting relatively quickly.

Natsu then landed atop the burning buildings, as the glow on his chest suddenly slid up to his spine, creating a ridge of fire along his back. The fire then slid down to his tail, and with a lash, a whip of fire struck down over the town, sending a massive burst of flames. As he was doing that, Laxus suddenly bolted at him.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" The electricity struck Natsu in the side of the head, which actually got the dragon to flinch. He then shot a burning glare at Laxus, and snapped his jaws at him, which Laxus managed to bolt out of the way of.

"Here! You monster!" With an angry hiss, said dragon looked down. He saw all the guilds and Magic Council assembled beneath him.

"I don't know what happened, to cause Natsu to be consumed by you, but we'll rip you away fro him!" Erza declared. Natsu just let out a roar, as everyone charged him. Every attack in the book was launched at him, but did relatively little against his dragon scales. However, there were five notable exceptions, all of which came from the Dragon Slayers. Those attacks actually hurt, instead of just bouncing off. Admittedly, Natsu was not as old or experienced as some of the dragons that came through the Eclipse Gate, let alone Acnologia, so it stood to reason he would lack the endurance they had. He had a feeling that if this lasted long enough, it would begin to do some damage. Natsu clenched his teeth, figuring he had to change tactics. The serpent then reared back.

"The hell's he doing now?" Sting asked. Natsu's chest glowed even brighter than before, before from his mouth cascaded streams of liquid fire. After hitting the ground, the fire congealed, forming a series of lizard like creatures made out of fire.

"**Let's see if you'll have better luck with my newts than you did with those hatchlings,"** Natsu sneered, as he spread his wings, and took to air again. The newts then charged the mages.

**(up in the mountain)**

Lucy was sitting amongst the sea of rubies, sobbing. She remembered Natsu's words of how they abandoned him. She curbed her mind for rationale about what happened, but there was nothing she could find. Had she, and everybody else, abandoned Natsu in his time of need?

Natsu had been there when Lucy lost her father, and he'd been there every time she needed him. But when Natsu needed her, she was to focused on what she was going to do to go and console him.

"I'm sorry….. I'm sorry….. I'm sorry," she chanted. This was all her fault, she had to make up for it somehow, but she didn't know how.

"Lucy!" The blonde looked up, and saw Happy flying at her. He had a look of pure horror on his face.

"You have to come up here!" he said, "Natsu's lost it!" Not hesitating, Lucy jumped to her feet.

"Alright! Take me up there!" she instructed. Happy did as he was told, but when he pulled Lucy out above, the sight was worse then she could have every imagined. She could see Egora in the distance, and the glow from the flames. Natsu was destroying it.

"Why's he doing this?" Happy cried, tears streaming down his face.

"We've got to get there!" Lucy declared, "We've got to stop him!" Happy then picked up Lucy, and they started to fly in that direction, as Happy went Max Speed, which his human form boosted even further.

**(in Egora)**

As Natsu completed another pass, the mages were unable to try and stop him, as they are occupied with the newts. Unfortunately, these creatures weren't going down easily. With an angry yell, Kagura bisected one of them, only for it to reform relatively quickly.

"Damn these things!" she snapped, "What'll it take to beat them?"

"Water isn't working!" Erza said, as she tried to use her water sword, only for it to prove remarkably ineffective. The only one's who weren't fighting the fire monsters were the Sky Sisters and Carla. Wendy had climbed onto the burning roofs, and looked up as Natsu streamed by, breathing more fire. As he was, she brought her hands together, and released a massive amount of wind, shooting her into he air.

"Natsu!" she cried, as she grabbed on to his foot.

"Wendy!" Chelia and Carla cried. The cat-girl then grabbed the Sky God Slayer, and lifted her up after them.

"Natsu!" Wendy cried, as she held onto the dragon's foot, "Why are you doing this? Talk to me!" Natsu's fiery glare shot down towards Wendy.

"**Get off!"** Natsu hissed, as he flew towards the lake. He then skimmed his feet over the water, soaking Wendy in the process, but not causing her to let go.

"I'm not letting go until you talk to me!" Wendy said.

"**Puny human!"** Natsu roared, as he flapped into the air, back towards the town. He was starting to sound disturbingly similar to the dragons from the Eclipse gate.

"What did we do to make you so angry?" Wendy asked, "Please tell me!"

"**You didn't care then! Why would you care now!" **Natsu roared, as he beat his massive wings.

"Whatever we did, don't take it out on these people!" Wendy begged, "They're innocent!"

"**You all took your own paths, and this is the path I walk!"** Natsu answered**, "I'm a dragon! Those who stand in the way of my vengeance are kindling for my fire!" **He then started breathing more fire over the town. Wendy then did the only thing she could think to do at this point. After assuming Dragon Force, she held back her arm.

"Sky Dragon's Blast!" she said, sending a burst of dragon wind at Natsu. It struck him in the side of the head, and while it failed in most respects, it did succeed in making the dragon mad. Natsu's tail then lashed up, and struck his heel, and by consequence Wendy, causing her to lose her grip and fall. Fortunately, Chelia caught her. Unfortunately, the combined weight of the girls proved greater than Carla could carry, and the group all plummeted to the ground. Natsu ascended further into the air, before looking down on the burning land.

"**This is only the beginning!"** he proclaimed**, "Soon every land, every city, will be nothing but ash! This world will burn under my wrath, and when I'm done, a new world will rise from the ashes! Enjoy this world while it lasts, because its days are numbered!"** The triumphant fire dragon then turned and flew back towards the mountain. As he did, he passed over Lucy and Happy, not taking notice of them.

"Put me down," Lucy said. Happy slowly obeyed.

"What do we do?" he asked softly.

"There's nothing we can do," Lucy said, a dead expression on her face, "Natsu's gone. All that's left is a dragon." With that, the fire dragon crawled back into his mountain. As he did, the last red scale, all that remained of his Fairy Tail mark, faded away. Natsu Dragneel no longer existed; all that remained, would come to be known as Natsu the Burning Serpent.

**Note: Yeah, I'm glad I didn't go this route. If this is what some people actually wanted Natsu to do, then I really can't understand that. For him to act so callous and vile towards others is horrendous.**

**Writing this wasn't easy. I could've just done a really sarcastic, really half-assed writing that was only about half a page, but I wanted to actually give something to my readers. Something with effort. But now that you've read this, what do you think of it?**

**Be sure to review.**


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